Sadism or not ? McGonagall and her punishments

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 186675

> a_svirn:
> 
> > But Parvati was wearing uniform, presumably. Otherwise McGonagall
> > would have commented on that too. Parvati hadn't violated any rule or
> > code by securing her hair with a clasp. Just because Hermione couldn't
> > bother with taming her hair, doesn't mean that other girls in Hogwarts
> > didn't wear bands, hairpins or clasps. Or boys for that matter - we
> > know that Jordan, for instance, sported dreadlocks at some point.
> > McGonagall is not reprimanding her for infringing the rules here, she's
> > disparaging her taste. Petty thing to do, in my humble opinion.

> Shaun:
> School uniform isn't just about being required to wear certain things. Quite 
> often school uniform rules also set restrictions on ornamentation.
> 
> And that often includes what girls put in their hair.
> 
> Just a couple of examples from Australian schools which have put their 
> uniform requirements on the web (I'm sure I could find similar citations for 
> British schools, but I have the Australian ones easily to hand).
> 
> St Hilda's, Western Australia:
> 
> "Hair must not be dyed beyond natural colourings. Hair should be neat and 
> tied back once it reaches the collar of the uniform. Hair ribbons, head 
> bands and scrunchies must be regulation blue. Only brown/blue hair ties, 
> alice bands, or clips are to be worn"


a_svirn:
And Gryffindor colours are red and gold.  I can totally see Parvati wearing an ornamental butterfly in her House colours, which would be considered too gaudy by St. Hilda's standards. Not that we have any reason to believe that Hogwats regulations are anywhere near as strict as St: Hilda's: otherwise Luna would have spent her entire time in Hogwarts in detention. McGonagall in this scene reprimands Parvati for her taste, which is a personal attack and therefore inappropriate. 

> 
> a_svirn:
> > Actually he didn't lose it: it was stolen from him. Poirot McGonagall is 
> > not.
> > But never mind that. So you wouldn't forgive him for losing the list? Even 
> > if you
> > knew full well that his memory disability was the reason of his losing it? 
> > And that
> > *your own arrangement* put him into an untenable position?
> 
> Shaun:
> 
> Actually, I would forgive Neville for losing the list - provided immediately 
> he realised he'd lost it, he'd reported its loss. Anyone can make a 
> mistake - but if you make a mistake, you need to take steps to correct it. 
> Neville's "misbehaviour" in this case involved three separate incidents - he 
> wrote the passwords down, he lost them (yes, they were stolen, but I think 
> the fact that he apparently left Gryffindor tower without realising they'd 
> gone missing indicates he wasn't taking care of them - also, at the time she 
> punished him, Professor McGonagall did not know they'd been stolen - she 
> assumed, as Neville did, that he had lost them. I do think it would be 
> entirely reasonable to expect Professor McGonagall to apologise to Neville, 
> if she ever became aware that the passwords had been stolen rather than 
> lost - but at the time she punishes him, she has a honest and reasonable 
> belief that he lost the passwords. Teachers aren't omniscient.), and then he 
> failed to report that loss despite having two days to do so.


a_svirn:
Yes, that would be bad form indeed. But we don't know if Neville noticed that his list had gone missing, and McGonagall did not bother to find out. As for not taking the proper care of it, I'd say that leaving it in the dormitory was actually pretty sensible. He had no reason to suspect his house-mates, did he? And knowing his propensity for loosing things he didn't trust himself enough to carry it on his person.

You didn't address in your response the other side of the issue, though. How about the fact that McGonagall's own arrangements put Neville in the loose-loose situation, and when he predictably enough lost, he was the only one who was punished? Didn't McGonagall as a responsible adult bear a greater responsibility for what had occurred? 

> Shaun:
> 
> I'm assuming that the names of the grades applied at Hogwarts mean what what 
> they say. An 'A' grade is called 'Acceptable' so I'm assuming it is 
> acceptable. An 'E' is called 'Exceeds Expectation' so I'm assuming a student 
> who gets an E does better than normal.

<snip> 

.
> 
> What did he get in Care of Magical Creatures? What did he get in History of 
> Magic? What did he get in Astronomy? What did he get in Divination? I think 
> the text strongly suggests he got a bunch of As at most - McGonagall 
> suggests Charms to him - and no other subject - because he got an E.
> 
a_svirn:
We know enough to conclude that he performed better in the classless where he wasn't constantly reprimanded. We haven't seen a single Astronomy lesson, but as for Divination, Trelawney definitely bullied him, and very elaborately so. 
 
> a_svirn:
> > Yes, but does the male in question need to be a student with disabilities?
> > Which is more to the point in this particular case.
> 
> Shaun:
> 
> He doesn't need to be a student with disabilities, but the fact that he is 
> does not preclude this approach. Again, the pages I cited from Leonard Sax's 
> work address this in detail, but he does specifically discuss this in terms 
> of its positive effects on boys with LDs.

a_svirn:
Well, I guess I disagree with Sax on this one. An admittedly superficial research on internet revealed that his point of view is not all that widely accepted and is in fact often described as "controversial". Moreover, McGonagall behaviour can arguably be qualified as "disability discrimination".