Sadism or not ? McGonagall and her punishments

[mesmer44]

No: HPFGUIDX 186682

"Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
>
> Good to hear from you again Shaun, we missed you smiling face,
> and your intelligent comments.
> 
> I'm going to make some broad comments on your post, but I don't
> believe they will be specific enough to quote you directly.
> 
> First we need to get rid of this modern notion that everybody
> should feel good all the time. This is especially true of kids.
> You do kids a disservice if you convince them that life is like
> a Disney cartoon, where very thing is bright and happy. THAT
> does not prepare them for the real world. That is my opinion,
> does far more harm that good in the long run.
> 
<SNIP>
Steve B continues:

> So, now let's look at McGonagall, while she is certainly strict,
> she seems completely fair. She will punish a Gryffindor just as
> quickly and easily as she will punish a Slytherin. Though, she
> does show a slight favoritism on rare occasion, usually 
> involving Quiditch. But I don't see that as a problem.
> 
> I also don't see a problem with her punishment of Neville.
> 
> Shaun suspects Neville might have a learning disability, but
> to me, he seems more like an ordinary kid who just happens to
> be more susceptible to stress. 
> 
> Kids in general can't remember anything. They don't remember
> not to slam the door, they don't remember to pick up their
> shoes, they don't remember to keep the bikes out of the drive
> way. That is just typical kid behavior and has far more to do
> with a lack of interest, a lack of attention, and a lack of 
> forethought. BUT, those are the very things a kid needs to
> function in the real world. You don't do kids any favors by
> not demanding that they DO pay attention, that they DO take
> an interest in important things, and if they plan to live a
> long time, that they DO develop Forethought. 
> 
> In my opinion, given them flowers and gold stars is not going
> to help, you must demand it of them, and you must press that
> demand until they comply. And that is exactly what Snape does
> to Neville.

<SNIP> 
> > Steve/bboyminn
>
Mesmer44 replies:

I agree w/ Steve and Shaun in their assessment that McGonagall is not to blame for being overly cruel or wrong in her disciplining of Pavarti and Neville.  As a teacher w/ a Masters degree in Education and a child/adolescent therapist, my perspectives here were more for their future development as students and young adults.  To discipline them consistently for what they have done wrong is in the long run in their best interests. To not do so is not in their best interest for future development as a responsible person. Pavarti will most likely survive certainly any embarrassment she has felt being scolded in front of her friends and will learn a valuable lesson for future social behavior at her job or in other real life social situations.  I didn't get bogged down w/ exactly what biases (if any) McGonagall had in disciplining her, but just viewing it from Pavarti not dressing as she's supposed to and obviously breaking a school dress code, any teacher was well within their rights to call her to task on what she was doing.  Doing it in front of her friends will make it sink in more and is more in line w/ the kind of real world repercussions that would result from frivolous or immature behavior in the future.  As to Neville, I also agree that he deserved to be scolded, but will concede that perhaps in his case he wasn't so much breaking any school rules, but rather being told or reminded not to do so.