[HPforGrownups] Re: Chapter Discussion: Prisoner of Azkaban Ch 16: Professor Trelawney's prediction

[Andy Mills]

No: HPFGUIDX 190226

Hello Susan,

> SSSusan:
> As a former history teacher myself, I take modest offense at this...
> same way I get a little tired of the Marian the Librarian stereotypes.
> MY students weren't bored to death, nosiree Bob. Hmmmphff! *grumble, grumble, grumble*

Andy:
You're right, history needn't be boring. I find it interesting these
days and often watch historical stuff on TV.

But at school, the way it was presented was boring. All I can remember
in one particular teacher's class was copying text out of a book, or
writing down what the teacher dictated, which she read out of a text
book. We had to write so fast, you could not *think* about and absorb
what it was you were writing, so it was an utter waste of time.

The other history classes I have no memory of at all (I think I was
there in body, but not spirit).

I grew up only a few miles away (about 10 as the Thestral flies) from
JKR, and she is only a couple of years older than me, so she would have
been under the same educational authority, and I imagine her experience
in history classes would have been very similar to mine.

Other than the general stereotypes of history lessons in school, it
really is no surprise to me that she chose to depict Prof. Binns' lesson
in this manner...

-- 
 Andy Mills