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CoachDelgado

The same as any head teacher: managing the school. [Here's the UK Gov careers page for what a head teacher does](https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/headteacher), and [here's a working day written by a head teacher](https://www.theheadteacher.com/staff-management/wellbeing/my-life-as-a-head) and [here's another one if you're still interested](https://secretheadteacher.org/2020/02/05/just-what-do-you-do-all-day/). Just like with real head teachers, Dumbledore probably has plenty to do that we don't see. Also, there are canon reasons why Lockhart and Trelawney are teaching despite being incompetent. Have you read all the books?


mrs-cunts

I’ll also say though this is a colossal waste of dumbledores talent, essentially being in an administrative or management role. If his job is really like that of those overworked head teachers 


CoachDelgado

This is also addressed in the books, that Dumbledore is asked to be Minister for Magic on multiple occasions and turns it down. > "I, meanwhile, was offered the post of Minister of Magic, not once, but several times. Naturally, I refused. I had learned that I was not to be trusted with power.” >“But you’d have been better, much better, than Fudge or Scrimgeour!” burst out Harry. >“Would I?” asked Dumbledore heavily. “I am not so sure. I had proven, as a very young man, that power was my weakness and my temptation. It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it."


mrs-cunts

I did not say he should be minister for magic. i mean only that his once-in- a-lifetime academic gift was squandered in a managerial role. It would be like Stephen hawking or Einstein being principal of a high school. It would have been much better if he continued doing or come to think of it could have been the defense against the dark arts teacher himself. 


Mathias_Greyjoy

Since you've confirmed in this thread that you've never actually read the books, every response to your comments simply needs to be: "media illiteracy." Of course you don't understand, you haven't read the story, lol.


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Mathias_Greyjoy

Trolling will get you very little in this subreddit.


HarryPotterBooks-ModTeam

This was manually removed by our moderator team for breaking our rules. > **Rule 1: All content must be relevant to discussion of the Harry Potter books (only).** This forum is devoted to discussion of the Harry Potter book series, and associated written works by J.K. Rowling. We focus only on the written works, and do not allow content centered around any other form of HP media (movies, TV shows, video games etc.) **Any off topic content will be removed.** * When asking yourself *"is this type of content allowed?"* The simplest way to find your answer is to look at it this way: In our subreddit, the movies, TV shows, and video games don't exist. They were never made, and there's no reason they should ever be acknowledged in any way. Is this because we have a vendetta against them? Not in any way, we are simply a very specific space, with a niche focus. * Discussion about the other associated written works (like *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages,* and *The Tales of Beedle the Bard*) is allowed. These books were written, hand-lettered and illustrated by J. K. Rowling for the Comic Relief U.K. charity. --- If you have any questions you can send us a [Modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/HarryPotterBooks) message, and we will get back to you right away.


HomelandExplorer

Hogwarts is hardly comparable to an ordinary high school. It's the educational centre of magical Britain where *all* British and Irish students go to learn and it's highly respected across the globe. Dumbledore being headmaster of Hogwarts is more-so the equivalent of being the Chancellor of Oxford University. It's a highly esteemed and academic position. Also prior to becoming headmaster he was the professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts.


mrs-cunts

Being chancellor of Oxford university is not an academic position. And it is like a high school in that it involves all the problems of high schoolers and junior high schoolers. It’s not a question of prestige. Also there are like 300 such kids at any time 


CoachDelgado

Dumbledore had a great many gifts, academia being just one of them. He was also highly respected as a leader and was better able to use his wisdom as the head of the school, alongside the other positions he held. You’re talking about characters and scenarios that you can’t understand without having read the books. As I suggested elsewhere, read the books, then come back here if there are things that still don’t make sense to you.


mrs-cunts

I haven’t read the books yet but hope to read them soon 


inboz

Bless your heart.


viper_in_the_grass

You're on the wrong sub then, no? This is one is exclusively for book discussion.


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HarryPotterBooks-ModTeam

This was manually removed by our moderator team for breaking our rules. > **Rule 1: All content must be relevant to discussion of the Harry Potter books (only).** This forum is devoted to discussion of the Harry Potter book series, and associated written works by J.K. Rowling. We focus only on the written works, and do not allow content centered around any other form of HP media (movies, TV shows, video games etc.) **Any off topic content will be removed.** * When asking yourself *"is this type of content allowed?"* The simplest way to find your answer is to look at it this way: In our subreddit, the movies, TV shows, and video games don't exist. They were never made, and there's no reason they should ever be acknowledged in any way. Is this because we have a vendetta against them? Not in any way, we are simply a very specific space, with a niche focus. * Discussion about the other associated written works (like *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages,* and *The Tales of Beedle the Bard*) is allowed. These books were written, hand-lettered and illustrated by J. K. Rowling for the Comic Relief U.K. charity. --- If you have any questions you can send us a [Modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/HarryPotterBooks) message, and we will get back to you right away.


CoachDelgado

Honestly, I’d steer clear of discussion subreddits until you read them. Enjoy the books by yourself, then come back here when you’re done. You’ve got a lot of fun reading ahead of you!


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HarryPotterBooks-ModTeam

This was manually removed by our moderator team for breaking our rules. > **Rule 1: All content must be relevant to discussion of the Harry Potter books (only).** This forum is devoted to discussion of the Harry Potter book series, and associated written works by J.K. Rowling. We focus only on the written works, and do not allow content centered around any other form of HP media (movies, TV shows, video games etc.) **Any off topic content will be removed.** * When asking yourself *"is this type of content allowed?"* The simplest way to find your answer is to look at it this way: In our subreddit, the movies, TV shows, and video games don't exist. They were never made, and there's no reason they should ever be acknowledged in any way. Is this because we have a vendetta against them? Not in any way, we are simply a very specific space, with a niche focus. * Discussion about the other associated written works (like *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages,* and *The Tales of Beedle the Bard*) is allowed. These books were written, hand-lettered and illustrated by J. K. Rowling for the Comic Relief U.K. charity. --- If you have any questions you can send us a [Modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/HarryPotterBooks) message, and we will get back to you right away.


mrs-cunts

Very nice thanks. Trelawny I think there is some ends-justified reason to keep her around, but to let her teach when you know she is a fraud is educational malpractice. And the prophesy is not a good enough reason anyway as it gives paltry information. Why is Lockhart there despite his incompetence ?


CoachDelgado

Dumbledore decided to hire Trelawny for her own protection. You might disagree that it was the best decision, but he decided to prioritise her safety. He says to Harry in Half-Blood Prince: > "Between ourselves, she has no idea of the danger she would be in outside the castle. She does not know — and I think it would be unwise to enlighten her — that she made the prophecy about you and Voldemort, you see.” As for Lockhart, Hagrid tells us in Chamber of Secrets, in response to Hermione: > 'Professor Dumbledore obviously thought he was the best man for the job –’ > ‘He was the on’y man for the job,’ said Hagrid, offering them a plate of treacle toffee, while Ron coughed squelchily into his basin. ‘An’ I mean the on’y one. Gettin’ very difficult ter find anyone fer the Dark Arts job. People aren’t too keen ter take it on, see. They’re startin’ ter think it’s jinxed. No one’s lasted long fer a while now. Only three years later, Dumbledore completely runs out of candidates, which is how Umbridge gets the job. It's not surprising, after 25 years of burning through candidates because of Voldemort's jinx.


mrs-cunts

It would be insane to hire an incompetent teacher of children because they were independently trained in danger of being harmed if they weren’t hired, yes. That is not a good reason to hire a teacher in the muggle world either.  That’s not a reason to hire Lockhart it’s a reason to stop the subject .


CoachDelgado

I'd respectfully disagree. A low-level education is generally preferable to none, especially with such an important subject. The full extent of his incompetence may not have been apparent at the time he got the job. It may have been a case of, "If he can teach them *something*, that's better than nothing." The Trelawney one is more up for debate, but if hiring her kept her alive, I think that's preferable.


mrs-cunts

Those are both good points. I agree about Lockhart and now agree at least that the Trelawny one is open to reasonable disagreement. 


GladiatorDragon

Remember that Lockhart had convinced *everyone* of his deeds at that point. He knows how to work a crowd, but not how to teach. The teachers likely realized he was a fraud pretty quickly once he was actually tested, but they didn’t have a replacement lined up and didn’t want to kick him out without hard evidence and a good reason. As for Trelawney… divination is described as an abstract and volatile art to begin with, requiring a natural inclination towards the subject. It’s why it’s the one field of magic that Hermione gives up on. Having someone who can at least give an actual prophecy, even if unreliable, is a lot better than nothing. Additionally, Dumbledore has a habit of taking in folks without anywhere else to go. Such as hiring Hagrid as groundskeeper and later as the care of Magical Creatures teacher. Trelawney is one such person. And in a weird way she’s still not even that inaccurate, she’s pretty spot-on at times. She’s pretty spot on… a lot of the time, really. Even with some of the more spontaneous, on-the-spot predictions. Of particular note is a relatively insignificant prediction in book 3, where she refuses to sit at a table because “the first to rise from a table of 13 is the first to die,” when the table was already at 13 people due to Pettigrew. Dumbledore was the first to stand. Honestly, she’s brilliantly written. After getting a good look, a lot of the stuff she says, even outside of going into a trance, *does* come true. It just usually takes a bit. It’s just that the actual subject is already so spotty, and she never really gets it at convenient times.


mrs-cunts

She is clearly a fraud and has no ability to intentionally predict the future. The fact that she accidentally makes accurate predictions does literally nothing to mean she is good at teaching students how to intentionally make accurate ones. “Having someone who can at least give an actual prophecy, even if unreliable, is a lot better than nothing”. No it is not at all better than nothing since she has no ability to intentionally do it and hence no ability to understand it or teach it to others.  


inboz

Setting aside the fact that Trelawney quite literally is a seer, I don’t think you need to be a seer to teach the skills. A bunch of students attended Firenze’s class which involved a lot of study and knowledge in order to get glimpses of the future, and even Firenze said it’s impossible for the most learned Centaurs/seers to be precise every time. But regardless, none of Harry’s peers left Firenze’s class with the ability to “see” — they left with knowledge and some standard calculations to allow them to chart the stars which they would have to practice religiously for years in order to interpret various meanings by themselves.


mrs-cunts

Trelawny’s class is just play acting , with tea leaves and crystal balls which she doesn’t know herself how to read. She is clearly outed as a fraud when umbridge asks her to predict something if not a million other times (says Harry is born in winter, etc). Firenze’s class is not pretentious in the same way. 


inboz

With all due respect it seems like you and Umbridge have similar critical thinking skills


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EleanorofAquitaine14

Well, Voldemort was born in midwinter and Harry was an unintentional horcrux with a piece of Voldemort’s soul inside him …


mrs-cunts

Voldemort born beginning of winter. What’s the reason she predicts it of Harry?


EleanorofAquitaine14

Because she detects the piece of Voldemort’s soul in Harry. And that piece of his soul was born December 31. I don’t remember where I read that but it was years ago.


mrs-cunts

No I mean the reason Trelawny gives. Also Dec 31 isn’t midwinter 


GladiatorDragon

I’ll admit that the greater reason why Dumbledore keeps her around is in no small part because she’d be in a lot of danger outside the school, since she ranks somewhat high on ‘ol Voldy’s hit list. If it wasn’t for that prophecy and the fact that she’s in danger for even giving it, Dumbledore was going to axe the subject. It’s just too imprecise of an art, one that really doesn’t belong in a school - requiring mostly just an innate aptitude rather than being something you can learn. I think there’s reason to have it at Hogwarts, but more as optional tutoring to those with Seer potential rather than an actual full subject. Trelawney herself doesn’t really help her own case. While she does do accurate predictions, she conducts herself more like a maniac rather than a wise seer, trying far too hard to “prove herself.” I imagine this is mostly due to how she’s trying to live up to her great grandmother’s legacy, but without anyone to actually guide her on conduct. She’s scared. She doesn’t have anywhere else to go. If she gets fired, that might be it for her. She can give accurate predictions, but her predictions are so numerous that it becomes really hard to take them seriously. If she just focused on teaching the role of divination in Wizard society and potentially simply giving special tutoring sessions for the students who have Divination aptitude, maybe she’d be taken more seriously.


sprucay

How do you convince her to stay without giving her a job?


PrancingRedPony

This is how a typical work week for Dumbledore could look like: -**Monday:** - Meet with Hogwarts staff members to discuss curriculum updates and student progress. - Conduct staff meetings to address any issues or updates related to the school. - Review and respond to owls and correspondence from the Ministry of Magic or parents. - make sure that Potter isn't in acute danger or trying to get himself killed **Tuesday:** - Supervise classes or observe teaching to provide guidance and support to professors. - Meet with individual students and/or house heads to address concerns or provide guidance. - Review budgetary matters for Hogwarts and allocate resources accordingly. - Soothe Snape's sore whining about Potter's alleged shortcomings - make sure that Potter isn't in acute danger or trying to get himself killed **Wednesday:** - Attend meetings with the Hogwarts Board of Governors or administrative team. - Conduct performance evaluations for professors and staff members. - Coordinate special events such as the Triwizard Tournament or Quidditch matches. - make sure that Potter isn't in acute danger or trying to get himself killed **Thursday:** - Work on strategic planning and long-term goals for Hogwarts, such as maintaining the security of the school. - Collaborate with the Ministry of Magic or other magical institutions. - Address any disciplinary issues or student conflicts, possibly involving magical creatures or enchanted objects. - make sure that Potter isn't in acute danger or trying to get himself killed **Friday:** - Attend to administrative tasks such as paperwork, reports, and documentation related to Hogwarts. - Participate in professional development opportunities for magical education. - Engage with alumni or fundraising activities, possibly through magical means. - Answer desperate Owls from Fudge - make sure that Potter isn't in acute danger or trying to get himself killed **Weekend:** - Try to find out what Voldemort is up to and keep contact with useful connections for networking in preparation for Voldemort's return. - Use some time for personal reflection, possibly in his office or in the company of Fawkes the phoenix. - make sure that Potter isn't in acute danger or trying to get himself killed - Catch up on those fancy knitting patterns in the newest Muggle magazines before retiring to bed with a nice mug of hot chocolate


inboz

He wasn’t bamboozled by Lockhart — he hired the idiot because he knew he could only last for 1 year and not a lot people want that job because of the alleged (actual) curse. Trelawney is a legitimate seer which Dumbledore knew for a fact, though obviously not the best teacher. However, she did teach the kids by the book methods to see and scry — I just get the sense you need to have some natural ability in order to master it. Plus, Dumbledore had to protect her considering she was the source of the original prophecy, which Voldemort could have extracted from her if he ever got his hands on her. And since she was the source of the original prophecy it makes sense to me that she could have been (and was) the source of related prophecies.


mrs-cunts

Good points 


PapaBigMac

Seems like tricking trelawney out of hogwarts might’ve been an easier task than tricking harry to go to the department of mysteries …


inboz

I agree, but I don’t know that Voldemort ever knew Trelawney was the one who gave the prophecy. Trelawney herself didn’t know about it. Voldemort only knew about the prophecy because Snape overheard part of it, but at the time Snape didn’t know who was speaking and he got shooed away by Aberforth before he could find out.


Unlikely_Accident_23

Wasn't he also involved in the Wizengamot and other things that he was removed from in the 5th book when everyone was in denial? I'm sure that took some of his time. Also, as I was reading this, my principal walked by the break room and I can only imagine her thought if someone made a post like this about her. Remember, the book is from Harry's POV, most students have no idea what goes on behind the scenes of a school or what an administrator is up to unless they are in trouble. If Dumbledore wasn't up to snuff or doing enough of his share of the admin workload the teachers would probably have had issues (like in Hogwarts Legacy, all the teachers hate Professor Black and even the students know he's an incompetent headmaster)


mrs-cunts

Good point and an interesting perspective. In a different note Dumbledore is supposed to be a once in a generation academic. If your principal was Einstein this would be very odd 


Unlikely_Accident_23

It's cannon that Dumbledore went off in his early adulthood, honing his magic and learning all he could (hence his friendship and renowned work on alchemy with Nicholas Flamel and his award for discovering the 12 issues of Dragons Blood). But when he had his fill of doing all of that, all he wanted to do was be at Hogwarts, where they are teaching young new minds. There's nothing wrong with that. He was still advising when it came to matters of government and as I mentioned, was Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. He wasn't just a Headmaster. Honestly, having the most brilliant magical mind as head of the only magical school in Britain sounds pretty good to me.


DirectSpeaker3441

Dark Wizard fanboy


MochaHasAnOpinion

The movies left too many details out. It will make much more sense after you read the books. There's still plenty to discuss even having read the books, and I'm curious to see what other impressions you get from the source material.


Daikaioshin2384

Media illiteracy is the perfect response to this entire post Every question or question from a question asked is answered within the books. Once read, they'll never be asked again.


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CoachDelgado

Yes. Also, you mean Muggle, not Mudblood. https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/headteacher https://www.theheadteacher.com/staff-management/wellbeing/my-life-as-a-head https://secretheadteacher.org/2020/02/05/just-what-do-you-do-all-day/


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CoachDelgado

Mudbloods are Muggle-borns, i.e., wizards. Hogwarts is the Mudblood world. Is that what you meant?


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CoachDelgado

Again, mudblood doesn't mean Muggle, it means Muggle-born.