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A comic page; see below for a transcript

We see a view of the classroom where Professor McGonagall and some other students are visible. One of them is Ron Weasley. The others are indistinct. Harry is still staring out the window, and Granger is still dutifully working.

RON: Aw, McGonagall, he's always doing that! Don't you want us to win the House Cup?

MCGONAGALL: Weasley, if we win the House Cup, I want it to be won fairly, not through favoritism. I might remind you that Potter is not the only one who could stand to improve his behaviour in my class. That concludes class for today. Homework will be chapter two of the Switch book and five inches of parchment on the basic properties of glass in transfiguration.

PRESENT HARRY: I didn't know what she meant by five inches of parchment, and I didn't know a way to get someone to tell me. It wouldn't have helped anyway, because I could barely read or write.

The scene changes. We see McGonagall and Harry facing each other across a desk. McGonagall is pointing at a parchment on the desk, which has only a few words written on it.

MCGONAGALL: Is this all you have? Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your lack of effort, young man!

PRESENT HARRY: But one professor was different from the rest.

We see Professor Severus Snape, standing next to a cauldron of bright green liquid. Snape's eyes, hair, and robes are varying shades of dark gray, and zir skin is somewhat grayish as well. Ze looks worried.

(hide transcript)

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encourage me

Some people would say that Professor McGonagall is “strict, but fair”.

What does it mean to be “strict, but fair”? People think that you can be “strict, but fair” by holding every student to the same standard. But with any standard, there will be some students that cannot live up to that standard, because of some physical, mental, or social limitation. To those students, it is profoundly unfair.

Can you fix that by tailoring your demands to each individual student? Is anyone so skilled that they can identify the abilities of hundreds of people? Is anyone's judgment unclouded by classism, neurelitism, racism, sexism?

If those things are difficult or impossible, is this a task that is “difficult, but necessary”? Is it necessary for education to be a series of demands that adults impose upon children who have never consented to them?

Approximate readability: 8.00 (670 characters, 141 words, 10 sentences, 4.75 characters per word, 14.10 words per sentence)

Do you like this comic? Consider pledging a few $$$ on Patreon so I can keep putting cool things online for free. Posted February 19, 2012 · Last updated July 24, 2016 · Permalink

Comments

Untamable Spirit · December 10, 2014 · Permalink · Reply

I grew up believing in the whole “strict but fair” thing, but I absolutely see what you mean now. “strict but fair” teachers were never really fair to everyone. I definitely agree with you about it only being fair when students set their own goals.