Sadism or not ? McGonagall and her punishments

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186776

Shaun wrote:
> <snip>
> I certainly agree that Professor McGonagall wants Harry on the team for reasons that aren't entirely about Harry (and are probably more about Gryffindor prestige than anything else) but the thing is, that wouldn't be an issue if Harry wasn't very good.

Carol responds:
There's no evidence that it's "about Harry" at all (unless it's about the fact that he's the famous Harry Potter and McG hopes that DD will grant her request for that reason). It's about winning the Quidditch Cup. McG says so herself.

Shaun:
> Hogwarts should be training Harry for any potential career. It should be training any of students with any special potentials in any areas in this way. That's both a duty of a school, and, once again, entirely consistent with real world practice.

Carol responds:
Hogwarts should give Harry the same opportunities for professional training that it gives any other student. Do students with a talent for Transfiguration or Potions get special help at Hogwarts? Not unless you count the Slug Club. And Harry would have six years to play Quidditch. Given that he's a natural, it makes no difference. He wins games from the moment he first sits on a broom. He doesn't need teachers bending the rules for him and buying him the best broom available at the time. (As for real-world practice, I seem to recall the old USSR giving young athletes special training at the expense of their regular education. I don't see schools in the Free World giving special privileges to eleven-year-old prodigies.)

Shaun:
> 
> Viktor Krum is about three years older than Harry, not the same age.

Carol responds:

I think Magpie is comparing Viktor Krum in GoF with Harry in HBP--not quite the same age, but close. And Viktor is clearly the greater prodigy.

Shaun:
>snip>
> I think it's hard to compare the two although, yes, I think Viktor is probably the better of the two. Even out of two brilliant players, one may still be more brilliant - but I'm prepared to guess Viktor has had some support to get to the level he does as well. <snip>

Carol responds:
Given the favoritism that Karkaroff shows Krum (who, it seems, doesn't even use his time in the library to study) I have no doubt that Karkaroff gave him special privileges from the first moment he saw him fly, and if Durmstrang had a no-brooms-for-first-years rule, he would have broken it just as McGonagall did in similar circumstances. But we condemn Karkaroff because he's Karkaroff, a former DE who snitched on other DEs to save his own skin, not to mention that he'll use any means to help Krum win the TWT. It's wrong for *him* to favor Krum (or Snape to favor Draco rather less drastically). It's wrong for him to call Poliokoff a "disgusting boy." 

I see very little difference (except in degree) between McGonagall's favoritism of Harry in first year and Karkaroff's of Krum in GoF. Both are providing a protege with special privileges so that he will win a tournament, one for a House and one for a school. I see very little difference between calling Poliokoff a "disgusting boy" and referring to a student (as yet unknown but still with feelings) as "abysmally foolish" or telling him not to let anyone from Durmstrang know that he can't cast a simple Switching Spell.

Favoritism is favoritism and psychological abuse is psychological abuse whether the teacher involved is McGonagall, Snape, Karkaroff, Slughorn, or Dumbledore.

I don't care in the least about the Parvati incident. It's just McGonagall being uptight about the appearance of her students in front of visiting schools. Parvati seems to have understood that, though I'll bet she had some resentful thoughts about being insulted in front of her fellow Gryffindors whether or not she was violating a school rule. But I do think that it's wrong to excuse favoritism or teachers "bending" rules so that they're team can win. IMO, it's wrong when Karkaroff does it. It's wrong when Fake! Moody does it. It's wrong when Snape does it. And it's wrong when McGonagall does it.

Carol, glad that McG doesn't "bend" the rules when it's time to give Harry detention in SS/PS