The 'Master-Apprentice'-Type Relationship

[alt_moderator]

Alternity dealt with themes of education - formal, informal, and via one-to-one tutelage. Which makes terrific sense when you're writing a story that encompasses the span of schooling for its young protagonists. But in Alternity, the scholarship relationships outside of the classroom offered opportunities for characters to work side by side - and often, secretly at cross-purposes.

Through the magic of my phenomenal alt-moderator powers, I have the pleasure of being able to introduce to this thread some very special guests. These individuals forged deep, close connections with each other in either actual or virtual master-apprentice relationships.

We invite you to ask any questions you may have - about their training, about their relationship, about their suspicions, about how their training prepared them for the fights they eventually fought, or lessons they learned that they would pass on - whatever you want to know! Time and space are immaterial here; the individuals who are participating are free to answer in whatever way they see fit, depending on what's called for in your questions.

Please welcome:

Antonin Dolohov
Justin Finch-Fletchley (Noble Arts)

Severus Snape
Hermione Granger (Potions)
and
Draco Malfoy (Occlumency)

Aurora Sinistra
Evelyn Longbottom (Astronomy)

Barty Crouch, Jr.
Hydra Lestrange (Death Eaterdom)

Savitha Desai
Ron Weasley (Auror training)

Poppy Pomfrey
Sally-Anne Perks (Healing Arts)

Comments

General question

[atheilen.livejournal.com]

This is mostly for Professors Dolohov and Sinistra, but I would also love to hear the thoughts of anyone else, student, teacher, or parent.

Professors, one of the things I enjoyed most about your conversations was seeing your thoughts on the Hogwarts curriculum and how it could be improved. Obviously the fact that you lived in a time of war was a factor, but that so many of you formed these close one-on-one bonds suggests the students needed more than Hogwarts could give them (those that attended Hogwarts, that is.)

What are your thoughts on the state of wizarding education? Have things changed much since the founding of Albion, with the re-establishment of the universities? (For that matter, I always got the impression that education was a factor in what led to the Protectorate, too...pureblood wizards felt they couldn't teach Noble Arts/pass on wizarding culture.) What do you think is done well and what should still be changed?

Re: General question

[alt_sinistra]

I could go on for days about education, you realise. The challenge, really, is two-fold. One is that teaching magical skills really does take a lot of time, and it doesn't necessarily leave a lot of time for other formal subjects, without neglecting something.

The other is the - oh, someone I know put this as 'native conservatism' of the wizarding world. And to some extent, there are good reasons for that. We are often teaching skills, training abilities, doing things that can be very dangerous if not supervised, and not just to the person trying them, and while there are always new challenges, there's no denying that we have found some things that work well, and others that clearly are problems.

And, on the other end, people who are hiring our students in the future want to understand what their OWL or NEWT results mean, how that compares to people who are ten or twenty or fifty years older. (And now, people who don't go to Hogwarts need to understand what our students do and don't know.)

I've had the chance to travel fairly extensively, since the war, over the summers, and often in places and circumstances that mean I can talk to people intimately involved in education in those places. I try to bring back the parts that make sense (and the ones that don't, so we can make sure there's nothing we can use.)

One thing I learned is that there are boarding schools and day schools, for that matter, in the United States and elsewhere, that are just as idiosyncratic in their own way as Hogwarts is. They have their own marking systems, their own ideas of what subjects are most important, and they've worked out ways to explain that to unversities, supplemental educational programmes, and employers, so other people understand the skills and experience their students do and don't have.

Related, when we began looking at what other schools did, we learned that in the former United Kingdom, Muggle students for many years took an exam at 11 - when our student begin Hogwarts - that would define their educational future. They then took exams really quite similar to our OWLs and NEWTs, narrowing down their areas of focus to a smaller number and often specialising even more than Hogwarts students do.

We've added some additonal steps for guidance - not just a single meeting with a few professors - to help with that, at a point when the students have more idea what they want to do when they're older, and we have more idea where their skills and interests lie. We've also done a lot to improve internships, summer educational offerings, and so on, to introduce students to topics common in other schools, and to make sure students with a particular strong interest can explore it before committing to an apprenticeship, higher education, employment training, or other choices that require a particular commitment and investment.

Another thing we've done is try to improve the overall level of writing skill (and reading skill, particularly different kinds of analysis of a text) throughout all the Hogwarts classes. It used to be that Astronomy was one of the few core subjects that had regular written assignments or feedback on writing as much than content. (I'm sure more than a few people here remember getting notes demanding better support for a conclusion or a more logical expression of their idea.) Outside of classes, I think we're doing much better finding tutors and summer programmes for students who need additional help with these skills, as early as possible.

Finally, I think we have got much better, as a school, at hiring staff who not only know their subject, but actively enjoy teaching and wish to become the best teachers they can be. Hogwarts has always had a number of gifted teachers, but we've also (again, not unlike schools other places), had a share of those who do it for other reasons. As we do better about talking with prospective staff about expecations and the reality of school life, we're learning how to find the people who really want to be at Hogwarts, and really want to teach, more than anything else. I particularly appreciate the support of the Board in helping us make that transition, and in making sure we had the financial resources to attract and support the people we want to be teaching our future.

(And oh, dear, now I sound like an educational pamphlet, don't I? Side effect of getting asked this question a lot, really.)

Re: General question

[alt_linus]

The rise of exchange programmes is indeed making a necessity of developing means whereby one can usefully assess a student's skills as well as identify those areas in which they may be, by the standards of what is about to be required of them, a bit deficient.

(It was, of course, quite eye-opening to find that there are indeed Muggles as attached to tradition as some of the staunchest defenders of the oldest of Hogwarts customs. The House or College of Scholars of Merton at the University of Oxford was founded a mere two hundred and seventy years after Hogwarts, as it turns out!)

Re: General question

[alt_mcgonagall]

Virtually all subjects expected the regular assignment of essays, not least of which were Charms and Transfiguration. Even Potions, if I recall correctly, required the ability to submit reports with accurate and reproducible procedures for brewing. You're correct that much of the first year, in my day, was spent assessing students' ability to follow logical progressions in their essays, as it was this skill that would enable them to do the theoretical work which would later be expected of them.

Properly speaking, History of Magic ought to have been the proving ground for essay-writing, but--well, when one is unable to dislodge the ghost from the classroom, it makes for a difficult standard.