Hagrid the animal abuser

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 166174

---  "hickengruendler" <hickengruendler at ...> wrote:
>
>  
> Sam:
> 
> > Everyone seems to forget that the is Care of Magical
> > Creatures.  The students are supposed to learn about
> > a variety of creatures, some of them quite dangerous.
> > ...Hagrids job is to prepare the students in his 
> > charge to learn about and care for dangerous and 
> > benign creatures alike.  
> > 
> > Sam
> >
> 
> Hickengruendler:
> 
> I think if someone forgot this, it was Hagrid himself.
> Otherwise he wouldn't have shown the students some 
> creatures that actually exist, instead of some, that 
> were bred by him, like the Blast Ended Skrewts.
> 
> I do see your point about the Hippogriffs, but 
> nonetheless they are not the right animal to start with.
> He has to show the younger students some easier to 
> handle creatures at first.
>

bboyminn:

First, I reject the idea that Hagrid /abuses/ animals;
that's just absurd. Everyone including the animals 
themselves seem to respect Hagrid for the care and 
compassion he has shown to magical creatures and other
creatures of the forest.

Second, I think Sam has the right idea, it is Hagrid's
job to show the students a wide range for magical
creatures and teach them how to handle them and care
for them.

But here is Hagrid's problem, first and foremost, Hagrid
is not a formally trained teacher. I honestly don't 
think he understands what his job is, and I think
Dumbledore is content to let him feel his way through
it and hopefully and eventually figure it out for himself.
That implies that the first few years ARE going to be 
rough and rocky. 

I think, to some extent, Dumbledore is of the belief that
the lessons we learn best are the ones we teach ourself.
I think he believes and allows this because it creates 
people who are self-determined and free thinking. If 
Dumbledore intervened too early and too often, Hagrid 
would never accomplish anything nor would he learn 
anything; he would just continually defer to other 
people. 

So, Hagrid's problem is that he doesn't understand his
job. Hagrid is fastinated with creature, or as some
might say monsters, so he assumes that's what he should
do, show everyone fastinating creatures. In Hagrid's 
mind, his class is '...magical creatures', but in
reality, his class should be about 'care of...'.

I think Hagrid is learning from his mistakes. Certainly,
in bringing the Hypogriphs in so early, he went too far.
Logically, he should start younger students with simplier
and less dangerous creatures and leave the more dangerous
ones to the older more experienced students. As the CoMC
classes go on, I see Hagrid getting better. I seem him
gradually settling down and focusing on what the students
/need/ to know rather than what Hagrid thinks will 
impress them.

Of course, just as Hagrid is pulling his lessons 
together, Harry and the gang are out of his classes, but
I project that farther down the road, Hagrid will get 
his classes a little more organized and structured, and
predict that, once he settles down, his class will 
become a favorite of the students. 

Dumbledore is letting Hagrid feel his way through what
it means to be a teacher and what it means to teach this
subject, and is doing so because he knows that eventually
this will lead to those classes being far better than 
they would be if Dumbledore or anyone else tried to 
microm-manage them.

Just one man's opinion.

Steve/bboyminn