Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus
Mamacita says: Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus indeed. It’s advice we should all heed. At the risk of exposing my Harry Potter obsession to the world – and it’s no doubt far too late to worry about that – I have been looking at the series with my teacher-eyes lately and have noticed some pretty awesome things.
At age eleven, children were expected to know the basic skills and were plunged directly into applying them to the real world.
There’s nothing in any of the books about the students studying grammar or spelling, but there’s PLENTY about writing essays, and a lot of hints that these essays were read carefully and graded strictly.
Reading wasn’t a class; it was what the students used in EVERY CLASS.
I saw no mention of a regular math class, but I noticed LOT of references to USING math to do other things. Advanced students studied Arithmancy, for example.
There were no mention of biology or chemistry classes, per se, but there was plenty of scientific application. Students were told to measure, count, plant, prune, mix, and transfer things from one container to another. Test tubes, flasks, stoppered bottles. . . . students were expected to handle these and more, plus their contents. Potions class was chemistry class.
I also noticed that most classes were either lecture or hands-on, and that the hands-on classes usually followed a lecture, and featured a lot of low talking, groupwork, and expectation that anything mentioned in the lecture would be necessary in order to do the groupwork.
Oh, and there was HOMEWORK. Lots and lots and lots of homework, which was expected to be done.
And the SARCASM! Nasty sarcasm, from Snape, for example, is never nice, but a little sarcasm can be quite productive and do a lot of good. At Hogwarts, the professors AND the students both knew how to appreciate sarcasm for its intrinsic value as a “prodder,” and also to learn by experience the difference between hurtful sarcasm and helpful sarcasm. In other words, the students learned all about context by experiencing everything in its proper – and improper- context.
There was only once course that seemed to be sniffed at, by both teachers, administration, and students, and even that proved extremely useful in the end. coughcoughcoughdivinationcoughcough
Students had free time. Apparently unsupervised free time. The professors assumed that the students had what it takes to handle themselves, whether the kids were roaming freely on the grounds or walking to the nearest town to spend the day as they wished. And, since the kids were expected to be able to handle this, they did.
Every Hogwarts students was able to- sometimes eventually- find success at something. Nobody was “left behind,” but many were soaring while others were still crawling. The soarers were not required, or even expected, to remain on the ground just because someone else couldn’t leave it. Yet. The school’s professors were always willing to tutor, give extra time to, encourage, cheer, reach out of the box, and pass along compliments.
Peer pressure was rather encouraged, although not the bad kind. The suggestion that a student who did poorly gave the entire House a bad name was enough to make the slackers buck up. And the attitude of the other students toward a student who lost the House some points was enough to make the wrong-doer think twice about doing it again.
Students were often ashamed of themselves for failing, wrongdoing, or otherwise letting themselves or others down. In our culture, personal shame is stifled, because people can’t help it, or were driven to it, or “made a mistake.” Perhaps this lack of shame is why our public school students continue to do things a Hogwarts student would have far too much respect for himself and for others to do.
At Hogwarts, self esteem was only for those who earned it. This is also as it should be.
I guess my question is, if Harry and his friends could do it, why can’t our kids?
Even in the upper grades, and even at the COLLEGE LEVEL, schools are still focusing on basic skills that Hogwarts expected of children when they were eleven years old. Every textbook I’ve ever used taught and re-taught the same stuff, over and over. Those students who “got it” at age nine are sitting in class with students who still haven’t “got it” at age seventeen, but nobody seems to care much about the students who KNOW this stuff ALREADY. Why don’t we have accommodations for these kids? Why do we require them to sit and endure the same stuff over and over again, when they’ve already proven mastery? Why don’t we rejoice in their mastery and allow them to soar higher and higher, learning NEW things and applying them to the universe? The sad fact that some kids can’t do it and never will should have nothing whatsoever to do with allowing those kids who CAN do it and are capable of even MORE to move onward and upward.
I’m thinking that perhaps Hogwarts policies weren’t just about magic; I’m thinking that Hogwarts policies were wise, practical, and enabled students to fly higher than any Quidditch player could possibly soar on a broomstick.
At Hogwarts, students were treated like soon-to-be-adults, expected to fulfill obligations, meet deadlines, and pass difficult, detailed exit exams. Disruptions were almost non-existent, and students who just couldn’t get it were not allowed to enter the upper level classes. It is insinuated that such students would end up as clerks, housemaids, servers, bus drivers, and service sector workers, etc. There is nothing wrong with this.
Only the best students were allowed to go on, to soar, to learn, and apply. They all started out at the same level, but nobody was held back because someone else in the class wasn’t ready or wouldn’t ever be ready. It is hinted that the lower level students – those who just didn’t have the smarts or talents to soar – would be taught to run, or at least walk without tripping over every single thing, at least. But in separate classes, not the advanced classes. Which is AS IT SHOULD BE.
I think our own education systems might have a lot to learn from a fictional series about British schoolkids, in a school that seemed to really, really understand how to deal with them. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with magic, unless we are speaking of the fact that education, done properly, is , indeed, a magical thing that will transport sincere learners into realms heretofore undreamed of. . . .
Hogwarts policies applied to areas other than “academics,” too. It’s too bad our actual schools don’t have policies such as this one: “. . . be warned: Thieving is not tolerated at Hogwarts.”
Because in so many of our public schools, thieving is just something kids do because their self-esteem requires constant puffing up by the acquisition of property, and if the property is someone’s else’s, well, let’s chat with the thief about honesty, tap him on the wrist, and turn him loose again. As for the true owner of the stolen property, well, life isn’t always fair, you know.
To sum up: Hogwarts policies rocked all the way, and most real public school policies can’t even keep time to the music.
Bonus points if you can translate the title and tell me why I used it.
Signing Off, Signing On, Test Patterns, and the Peacock
Mamacita says: Most of you have never seen this picture before. Most of you have never known a time when television wasn’t a 24-hour marathon of programming. This is a test pattern. If you turned on your television after midnight, this is all you saw.
The fact is, things used to have down time. Stores closed. Television and radio stations “signed off,” and each station often had its own unique signoff ritual. After midnight, people went to bed; they didn’t stay up for hours and watch because there was nothing to watch. When people said, “There’s nothing on TV,” it wasn’t just an expression. Radio stations signed off, too.
Sometimes I think it was better the old way. After midnight, people generally went to bed. People didn’t watch show after show just because something was on, because something WASN’T on. Just blackness, static, or a test pattern.
I can remember turning on the TV on Saturday morning, seeing nothing but the test pattern, and waiting patiently until 6:00 a.m. or so for the station to “sign on.”
When my cousin C and I were kids, and would stay at our grandmother’s house every weekend we could manage it, the sign-off for Indianapolis’ WTTV channel 4 was a few minutes of Mahalia Jackson singing. I can’t remember what she sang, specifically, because C and I usually watched our grandmother when Mahalia sang. It was one of the few times we saw Mamaw laugh out loud. Mahalia’s kind of singing just wasn’t heard much in southern Indiana, and the shock value of it set Mamaw off every Saturday night.
Most sign-off rituals were religious in nature, and patriotic as well. A local clergyman would speak a few words, the National Anthem would play, and the sign-off words were spoken, along with a promise to sign-on again in the morning. It was kind of cool. It was also a signal that everybody still up ought to go to bed, as well.
Maybe that’s one reason people stay up so late these days. They’re glued to the TV, and there’s nobody now to tell them it’s time to sign off and go to bed. As long as there’s SOMETHING on TV, some people will watch it. I’ve never understood the mentality.
This picture, now, is the NBC peacock, telling us that the next program would be in living color. Those of you who thought In Living Color was nothing but a funny television show have a lesson to learn here. And now you know why the title of that show was funny in more ways than one!
Seeing that NBC peacock flexing its tailfeathers was the signal that Bonanza was about to start. A lot of the old 50’s sitcoms had been filmed in color but never seen in color, and eventually those started to be shown as was intended, too.
Here’s your laugh of the day. I didn’t know The Wizard of Oz was partly in color until I was in my teens. It made the expression “a horse of a different color” understandable, for the first time.
I’m not really QUITE that old, but my family just waited that long to get a color TV.
Quotation Saturday: Randominities
Mamacita says: There’s no actual theme for this week’s Quotation Saturday; it’s full of random wordbytes of wisdom. Oh, and if you don’t see any wisdom, you’re not looking closely enough.
Oh, and you know what “they” say. . .that’s the omnipotent antecedentless “they” of the ages. . .if you are offended by a quotation, you probably need to evaluate your own belief system, paying special attention to values, norms, and what you REALLY do all day.
1. Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both. — Abraham Flexner
2. The problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. –Albert Einstein
3. The door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly. –Ogden Nash
4. A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a blief; it is a superstition –Jose Bergamin
5. If you hold a cat by the tail, you learn things that cannot be learned in any other way. –Mark Twain
6. Words, like eyeglasses, obscure everything they do not make clear. –Joseph Joubert
7. Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. — James Joyce
8. The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. — Aldous Huxley
9. What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult. — Sigmund Freud
10. Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong. — Dandamis
11. I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things that I am most certain of the first time. –Josh Billings
12. Your greatness is measured by your kindness; your education and intellect by your modesty; your ignorance is betrayed by your suspicions and prejudices, and your real caliber is measured by the consideration and tolerance you have for others. — William J. H. Boetcker
13. Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. — Martin Luther King Jr.
14. Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. YOu plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility. — St. Augustine
15. People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them. — George Bernard Shaw
16. My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. — Clarance B. Kelland
17. If a man would register all his opinions upon love, politics, religion, learning, etc., beginning from his youth and so go on to old age, what a bundle of inconsistencies and contradictions would appear at last! — Jonathan Swift
18. Evil is like a shadow – it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. IN order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it. — Shakti Gawain
19. Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. — H.L. Mencken
20. Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog – few people are interested, and the frog dies. — E.B. White
21. Everybody is a potential murderer. I’ve never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices. — Clarance Darrow
22. Any child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name is so he can tell when he’s in trouble. — Dennis Fakes
23. Puritan: Someone who is afraid that, somewhere, someone else is having a good time. — H.L. Mencken
24. Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. — John F. Kennedy
25. The most pathetic man in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision. — Helen Keller
26. Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. — George Bernard Shaw
27. A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them. — P.J. O’Rourke
28. A lot of disappointed people have been left standing on the street corner waiting for the bus marked Perfection. — Donald Kennedy
29. To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. — St. Thomas Aquinas
30.The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. — Sydney J. Harris
31. You can get all A’s and still flunk life. — Walker Percy
32. Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth. — FDR
33. I’m glad I am a woman who once danced naked in the Mediterranean Sea at midnight. — Mercedes McCambridge
34. Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. — Jim Davis
35. Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn. — Garrison Keillor
36. It’s bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children’s health than the pediatrician. — Meryl Streep
37. We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons. — Alfred E. Newman
38. In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds. — Robert Green Ingersoll,
39. If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. — Albert Einstein
40. It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument. — William G. McAdoo
41. The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit. –Wade Davis
42. Finding the right answer is only the beginning. There are other right answers if one can change one’s perspective. –Judy Wellington
43. Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. — Apple Computer Inc
44. We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our own story. — Mary McCarthy
45. It’s the friends you can call up at 4 am that matter. — Marlene Dietrich
46. Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself. — Eleanor Roosevelt
47. I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. — Albert Einstein
48. How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong…because sometime in your life you will have been all of these. — George Washington Carver
49. The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner. — Tallulah Bankhead
50. The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. — Gandhi
51. No one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink. — Murray Banks
52. Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
53. You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims. — Harriet Woods
54. If you look at what you do not have in life; you don’t have anything. If you look at what you have in life; you have everything. — Unknown
55. Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right. — Henry Ford
56. Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. — Judy Garland
57. Never think you are too small to make a difference…ever been to bed with a mosquito — ” Ita Buttrose
58. A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch. –James Beard
59. As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists. — Joan Gussow
60. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. — Elie Wiesel
P.S. Yes, I realize I’ve used many of these before, but the fact that you noticed makes me really, really happy. Thank you!
