Teachers at Hogwarts

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 189621

  Pippin:
> Going to Dumbledore would mean going over McGonagall's head. Hagrid might think that was insulting. And it would definitely be insulting for Dumbledore to give advice to Hagrid if Hagrid didn't ask for it, and perhaps also insulting to McGonagall in implying that she wasn't the proper person, as Deputy Headmistress and Hagrid's former HoH, to give Hagrid advice if he needed it.

Bart:
     My take? Dumbledore asked Hagrid to take the job. Hagrid was 
honored. But, being Hagrid, he felt that asking for advice on how to 
perform the job properly would mean that he wasn't living up to 
Dumbledore's expectations. Also, note that each teacher has their own 
teaching methods; I suspect that Professor Sprout would have been the 
best person for Hagrid to approach for advice, as her "hands on" style 
is closest to his own. But let's take a look:

1) Sprout: takes a very pragmatic approach. Has the students get  some 
basic knowledge, then learn through actual observation.

2) Snape: Hey, it was easy for him. If the students don't get it as fast 
as he did, then they are lazy. Taking the concept of "have high 
expectations, and then the students will rise to meet them" somewhat too 
far. Which leads us to:

3) Minny the Cat. She also uses the "have high expectations, and then 
the students will rise to meet them" tack as well, but she is much more 
realistic about the difference between trying and not succeeding and 
slacking off.

4) Flitty: We didn't see too much, but it appears that he was a lot like 
Lupin: challenge the students, but don't push too hard. Praise success, 
encourage trying again with failure. Treat laziness with disappointment, 
rather than anger.

5) Binns: Give the students the facts, don't worry about whether or not 
they actually learn anything. Frankly, I think that Dumbledore was 
derelict in his duties by keeping him on; he almost guaranteed that the 
students would NOT learn history.

6) Cooking Sherry: She's a fraud, alright, but not necessarily in the 
way she is painted as being. She knows the practice, but knows nothing 
of the theory, or even why the methods work for some and not others. So 
she just teaches basic methodology without giving any advice on how to 
best make the methods work.

7) Dobbin: Actually, much like Binns, gives the information to the 
students, but doesn't put effort into ensuring that they are actually 
learning. The difference between him and Binns is that his behavior 
implies that he would prefer it if the students learned, while Binns 
doesn't seem to care one way or the other.

     Any other observations?

     Bart