Snape as teacher

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 11968

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., sashibuya at h... wrote:

> snip
> Heh. As I understand it, he doesn't like teaching, but does so to 
>pay the bills and maybe for the lab space (I see him as one of those 
>star researches at a university, hired at great expense, who doesn't 
>like undergrads). Or there could be some other, yet to be revealed 
>reason for Snape to teach while not liking it. Perhaps there is a 
>real shortage of qualified Potions experts? He has a secret sense of 
duty? 
> All plausible, but non conclusive conjectures. 
> 
> Of course, we're assuming here that Snape doesn't like teaching. 
> Anyone want to argue the reverse?

I think Snape has a generally low opinion of his students. In Harry's 
very first Potions class in SS, Snape tells the students how he can 
teach them all sorts of things, assuming the kids "aren't as big a 
bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."  However, perhaps 
Snape is simply brilliant at what he does but finds it frustrating 
that:
 1) most students want to get the immediate satisfaction of waving a 
wand to get a result, and are impatient with the slower methods of 
Potions brewing, or;
 2) it's rare for Snape to have students who appear to have a real 
talent for Potions, and thus, he feels he cannot truly pass on his 
knowledge.