Snape as teacher

[pbnesbit at msn.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 11971

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Zarleycat at a... wrote:
> --- 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.


I agree with this assessment.  Snape seems to have a real gift for 
Potions (which I gather is rare) and he seems to me to be a 
perfectionist.  I think that he likes teaching, but is perhaps 
frustrated that no one in his classes seems to have the patience or 
the talent to measure up to his rather exacting standards.

Peace & Plenty,

Parker