Just received an email from someone who can help me view the RJC video soon, so I'll try to write my opinions from that new perspective once I get a look at it. In case readers here missed out, links were provided under the comments section of a post I made on July 12th.These links don't work at the moment due to overwhelming demand which probably crashed the servers, but there's another link that leads to the comments section of another blog ( which discusses this very same topic ). To be honest, the complaints here sound quite harsh. But then, they're also consistent. Which makes me wonder if the teacher had it coming...

Coincidentally, Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix mirrors these events so closely it's uncanny. I even wonder ( though I doubt it ) if the student who decided to post the video on the web might have obtained the idea from the book.

Spoilers ahead!!

In this novel, Harry and friends face a new enemy in the form of nasty Professor Umbridge, who hails from the Ministry For Magic but manages to insert herself into Hogwarts and ,slowly but surely, turns the entire school upside-down. She becomes even more loathed than Professor Snape, and when she finally ousts Professor Dumbledore and becomes the new headmistress, the student body retaliates in full force, and with the blessing of most of the teachers as well!

Considering how Umbridge is projected by author Rowling -- she's described as being "toad-like", with extremely annoying mannerisms, and a very mean streak (detention involves writing lines with an enchanted quill that cuts / burns words into the student's hand; she thinks nothing of deducting points for very minor things; she deliberately bans Harry from playing Quidditch to complete her torment and sabotage Gryffindor's chances of winning the Cup; most importantly, she is an absolutely lousy Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher who would rather have her class read the textbook from cover to cover than allow hands-on practice ). Who can fault anyone for detesting this horrible woman?

Which brings me to the point I'm trying to make: The situation can seem very clear cut when we have all the facts. No-one in his/her right mind will side Umbridge. When the Weasley twins unleashed their store of jinxed toys on her, I was cheering along with the characters. So if, say, a real teacher is equally unfair in her treatment of students, and everyone feels the same way, and someone decided to pull "a Weasley" on her, I'd support the move.

Still, much has been said about the fact that the video shouldn't have been made public, and this is something that I agree with. Schools have principals, and students should at least approach them before taking matters into their own hands. No mention was made about whether anyone brought this matter up to Mr. Hodge ( the RJC principal ). Even if he didn't choose to believe one student, I'm certain that, if a significant number came forward with the same story, he would've investigated further. Not giving him a chance to find out for himself and make the necessary changes wasn't a very respectful thing to do. In my opinion, it also tainted the college's reputation, attracted media attention, and probably made RJC alumni like myself quite miffed.

Anyway, in the Harry Potter book I mentioned earlier, the pupils at Hogwarts did voice their concerns to a few trusted professors, and even headmaster Dumbledore was aware of the problems. Sadly, he was unable to act on them due to restrictions from the Ministry For Magic.

So yes, I thank my fellow alumnus for his comments and useful links. Harry Potter also helped reinforce the need for a more open-minded perspective -- never imagined he'd come in handy in a discussion regarding RJC :D. But the bottomline is, there's no definite black or white here. Both parties aren't completely wrong, but neither are they completely right in the ways they reacted to the situation at hand. I guess counselling would be helpful in this case, but those in positions of authority should also be more attentive to the sentiments of the student population at large, so that discontent doesn't build up and explode in this fashion again.