Hagrid and Draco

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 166186

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Magpie" <belviso at ...> wrote:
>
> Geoff:
> Hagrid is enthusiastic and has expertise. That we
> know. He was always very keen to tell individuals and
> classes about the various creatures to which they were
> introduced and, as has been observed in this discussion,
> he has the expertise to look after the handling and
> welfare of these different beasts.
> 
> <snip>

Magpie:
> Right. Hagrid is enthusiastic but doesn't really seem to get a big part of 
> his job as a teacher, which is not just talking about the animals he loves 
> with kids who love them, but controlling a lot of kids. Some of this is the 
> kind of thing you can probably only get from experience. 

Geoff:
This is precisely the point I am making.

You may have missed my first reference but in about the fourth or fifth 
line of my post, I wrote: "Firstly, I look on Hagrid as having enthusiasm,
expertise but sadly lacking in experience." 

And then, at the beginning of the paragraph just after the extract you 
quoted, I again wrote: "However, where he comes unstuck is in the area 
of experience."

Part of being trained as a teacher is how to tackle the question of dealing 
with students collectively and individually. You cannot afford yourself the 
luxury of just talking to little groups whom you like or who ask all the 
questions. Particularly if you are working in separate groups, you need 
to move around to see what they are getting up to, to encourage and 
advise.

As I said in my previous post, this is especially necessary if you are 
working outside, When I was helping out with games (which was a second 
string to my main subject of Maths at that time) I often had sole charge of 
maybe 25 lads who might be doing two or three activities so I had to keep 
moving around to make sure that all was well - and that a couple of the 
"clever" pupils hadn't slipped off to have a fag behind the toilet block.

Magpie"
> One extra thing I would add to Hagrid's problem is that Draco quite possibly 
> isn't *ignoring* his instruction, which would be intentionally dangerous and 
> I don't think he believes he's taking that risk. He possibly didn't hear it 
> because Hagrid said it in the beginning in a moment when Draco wasn't 
> listening. 

Geoff:
Here, I would disagreee with you. I believe that Draco was ignoring his 
instructions.

'Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to 
Malfoy who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful.

"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Harry to hear him. 
"I knew it must have been if Potter could do it.... I bet you're not dangerous 
at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff. "Are you, you ugly great brute?"'
(POA "Talons and Tea Leaves" p.90 UK edition)

To me, that suggests that Draco was deliberately trying to prove that 
Hagrid's warning was exaggerated.

This is of course a demonstration of a fact known to all teens - that they 
are immortal. We were all probably immortal in our teens. Accidents were 
something that happened to other people. Reality was a post-teen 
phenomenon, even to Hpgwarts students. Hence one could safely 
insult a Hippogriff. :-)