I honestly don't ever recall Dumbledore acting like that, except for times when Snape was demanding punishments for Harry.
Also, how recently was bullying recognized as a serious problem? This is a society that accepted corporal punishment for schoolchildren, within living memory (Arthur Weasley was caned for being caught out after curfew with Molly.) Bullying among children is likely just seen as 'children being children', maybe the magical equivalent of roughhousing, so long as no one is seriously injured (and the school nurse is capable of regrowing your bones overnight.) It's not right, but I don't think it is entirely fair to pin all the blame for that on Dumbledore. I'd be willing to bet that Dumbledore had something to do with the removal of corporal punishment though. It seems like something he'd be involved in.
My reason for asking if Snape had bullied anyone else was that if he hasn't, then his bullying is specific to them, and therefore only would have started during their first year. He was very strict, and biased toward Slytherin and against Gryffindor before that, but wouldn't have been bullying. Also, we don't know if Dumbledore did try speaking to Snape in order to get him to stop acting like that. We just know that he didn't do it where Harry could see. (And it isn't like Dumbledore could threaten to fire Snape, as Snape needed to be close to Dumbledore publicly for Voldemort to believe that Snape was his spy. And if Voldemort stopped trusting Snape, that would most likely be quickly followed by Snape's death.)
With regards to the level of punishments, from what we see, major infractions get a lot more detention periods than the minor ones, which usually only seem to involve a single detention. What they are required to do for the detentions also varies, so the level of punishment can be altered by this as well. (The usual detention, IIRC, typically involves having to perform some tedious manual labor, which could easily be done in seconds with magic. I imagine that that can only add to the punishment.)
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
Also, how recently was bullying recognized as a serious problem? This is a society that accepted corporal punishment for schoolchildren, within living memory (Arthur Weasley was caned for being caught out after curfew with Molly.) Bullying among children is likely just seen as 'children being children', maybe the magical equivalent of roughhousing, so long as no one is seriously injured (and the school nurse is capable of regrowing your bones overnight.) It's not right, but I don't think it is entirely fair to pin all the blame for that on Dumbledore. I'd be willing to bet that Dumbledore had something to do with the removal of corporal punishment though. It seems like something he'd be involved in.
My reason for asking if Snape had bullied anyone else was that if he hasn't, then his bullying is specific to them, and therefore only would have started during their first year. He was very strict, and biased toward Slytherin and against Gryffindor before that, but wouldn't have been bullying. Also, we don't know if Dumbledore did try speaking to Snape in order to get him to stop acting like that. We just know that he didn't do it where Harry could see. (And it isn't like Dumbledore could threaten to fire Snape, as Snape needed to be close to Dumbledore publicly for Voldemort to believe that Snape was his spy. And if Voldemort stopped trusting Snape, that would most likely be quickly followed by Snape's death.)
With regards to the level of punishments, from what we see, major infractions get a lot more detention periods than the minor ones, which usually only seem to involve a single detention. What they are required to do for the detentions also varies, so the level of punishment can be altered by this as well. (The usual detention, IIRC, typically involves having to perform some tedious manual labor, which could easily be done in seconds with magic. I imagine that that can only add to the punishment.)
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.