Parents and educators

[chani]

I read a post about Hank Summers on the BC&S and it made me think of the Education theme. I think that BTVS may reveal Joss' view on Education but I'm not sure about which one...

There are many parents or parent figures on Buffy:

Joyce of course, but also Giles, Willow's mother in "Gingerbread", Amy's mother in "the Witch", Tara's father in "Family", Xander's parents in "HB", William's mother in "LMPTM", Nicky in "LMPTM", Hank (although we only saw him through Buffy's mind, from her perspective or briefly in the last scene of "Nightmare" so I am not sure we can use him as a reference), oh and of course Maggie Walsh and The Mayor (Faith's surrogate father)...I think we could even pick Ted the robot as a wannabe-father in that discussion on Education. At some point Buffy herself had to be a mother for Dawn.

Oh and there's also Kathy's father in "Living Conditions" !

Did I forget a parent?


First we have obviously "bad parents" on the show: The Harris, the Rosenbergs, Tara's father and the evil Maggie Walsh.

And Joyce and Giles are obviously the good parents here (I said good, not perfect).

There's that dialogue between Giles and Maggie in "A New Man" :

Giles: Oh, uh, I think it's best if-if. . . if we let a young person find their own strengths. If you lead a child by the hand then they'll never find their own footing.

Walsh: And if it's true about hiking, ergo, it must be true about life.

Giles: That's not, uh . . . I'm just saying Buffy is, uh, well she's not the typical student. Once you get to know her, she's a very unique girl. I hope you're not going to push her.

Walsh: I think I do know her. And I have found her to be a unique woman.

Giles: "Woman." Of course. How wrong of me to choose my own words.

Walsh: She's very self-reliant, very independent--

Giles: Exactly!

Walsh: --which is not always a good thing. I think it can be unhealthy to take on adult roles too early. What I suspect I'm seeing is a reaction to the absence of a male role model.

Giles: Absence?

Walsh: Buffy clearly lacks a strong father figure.

Maggie turned to be an evil bitch and Adam killed is mommy. Does it mean that Giles was right? Is Giles the voice of Joss here?

Now let's here the discussion between Sheila Rosenberg (the first Sheila who appeared on the show in "School Hard" was such a bad girl btw!), the inattentive mother and Willow in "Gingerbread":

Willow: Mom, how would you know what I can do? I mean, the last time we had a conversation over three minutes, it was about the patriarchal bias of the Mr. Rogers Show.

Sheila: Well, with King Friday lording it over all the lesser puppets...

Willow: Mom, you're not paying attention.

Sheila: And this is your way of trying to get it. Now, I have consulted with some of my colleagues, and they agree that this is a cry for discipline. You're grounded.

Willow: Grounded? This is the first time *ever* I've done something you don't like and I'm grounded? I'm supposed to mess up. I'm a teenager, remember?

Sheila: You're upset, I hear you...

Willow: No, Ma, hear this! I'm a rebel! I'm having a rebellion!

Sheila: Willow, honey, you don't need to act out like this to prove your specialness.

Willow: Mom, I'm not acting out. I'm a witch! I-I can make pencils float. And I can summon the four elements. Okay, two, but four soon. A-and I'm dating a musician.

Sheila: Oh, Willow!

Willow: I worship Beelzebub. I do his biddings. Do you see any goats around? No, because I sacrificed them.

Sheila: Willow, please!

Willow: All bow before Satan!

Sheila: I'm not listening to this.

Willow: Prince of Night, I summon you. Come fill me with your black, naughty evil.

Sheila: That's enough! Is that clear? Now, you will go to your room and stay there until I say otherwise. And we're gonna make some changes. I don't want you hanging out with those friends of yours. It's clear where this little obsession came from. You will not speak to Bunny Summers again.

It's O.T but suddenly I wonder if we don't have here the true explanation of Anya's phobia !!! The bunnies stand for Buffy! Anya actually feared Buffy which makes sense.

Never mind...

So what do you think? What is supposed to be the model of Education in the Jossverse? Did Joss promote the freedom of Summersville(ok bad pun on Somerville...)?

What about the evil characters? Do they necessary say wrong? Let's take The Mayor for instance...Would you say he's a bad educator? I really need to rewatch season 3 btw.

 

 

Comments

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

I think Joss's view on parenting and education that becomes clear though these examples is a very well-known one: You must learn it, like you learned everything in life. Good parenting is admiting you did something wrong and is knowing it won't be perfect.

Both Maggie Walsh and Sheila Rosenberg are portrayed as having a very strict view of what parenting and education are or should be. They think about principles and what a person should be. They don't take into account what this person already is. But educating should be first and foremost about reciprocity: we teach the youngsters and take into account how they react and whhat they do, because this'll learn the teacher and educator how to behave towards them and how to educate them even better.

And now I don't really know if this is what Joss tried to tell us. He also alludes on respect. Both Giles and Joyce respect Buffy as a person and their "parenting" is more guidance than strict rules that need to be obeyed.

Hmm, after rereading I have the feeling I talked like one of my textbooks from teacher's training...

[comava.livejournal.com]

Haha, I'd forgotten all about Willow's conversation with her mother, that's a great bit.

I think that as far as the Mayor goes, he was a better father than for instance Mr. McClay. Evil big bad or not, he at least cared for Faith, which is more than one can say of the Rosenbergs or the Harrises.

[candlelightfrot.livejournal.com]

Difficult to say..... I don't think that was a prime plot in the show, though Buffy's maturation as the slayer and later as a person (post S5) was all a part of it. Certainly whatever Joyce did as a mother was portrayed as being in keeping with what was considered good parenting. The slayage was in that light seen as Buffy's rebellion (masqueraded as the 'band' she was in with Spike); though the real rebellion was her relationship with Angel.

While Buffy had to 'clean up her own mess' so to speak at the end of S2 and did run away from the situation, it was certainly her mother who championed her daughter's return to school in S3. The best thing that Joyce - or Giles - showed towards Buffy in those times was faith. Perhaps that is why Faith was given her name; it was sarcastic irony that Giles could have faith in Buffy, but not so in the slayer so named.

...