Quality of Hogwarts' less-regarded teachers

[prefectmarcus]

No: HPFGUIDX 43650

We tend to brand certain Hogwarts' teachers as incompetent.  The list 
usually includes Quirell, Lockhart, Trelawney, and Binns.  Some might 
include Snape in that list.  I have to ask, why?

Look at perhaps the worst of the bunch, Lockhart.  True, he himself 
was a fraud, but was the knowledge he imparted a fraud?  Remember 
where all those books came from.  They came from a great deal of 
painstaking research.  The details are all there, AND they had to be 
right.  If they weren't, he would have been exposed as a fraud long 
before.  There is just the minor (?!?) problem of attribution.  Just 
because he was incapable of doing the things he claims to, doesn't 
mean he can't teach what to do.  He just can't demonstrate it or give 
practical lessons.

Trelawney falls into this same category.  True seers are extremely 
rare according to McGonagall.  Would they be teaching at Hogwarts?  
Not unless they want to.  Trelawney teaches the syllabus.  If one of 
her students turns out to be a seer, he will get the proper 
grounding.  Otherwise, the students are getting the basics of a 
subject few will ever master.

We simply do not know enough about Quirell to judge his competence.  
We know he didn't give practical lessons, but that is about all we 
know about him as a teacher.

Then there is Snape.  Whatever you may say against him -- and that is 
quite a bit! :) -- he is an effective teacher.  For one thing, he 
loves potions.  You simply cannot fake that.  That opening speech he 
gives to the first years is not coming from a man who hates potions.  
He is a stickler for details.  HE HAS TO BE!  If the students do not 
get the potions exactly right, the consequences would be dire!  I can 
fully understand his frustration with Neville Longbottom.  I don't 
excuse his treatment of him, but I understand his frustration.  You 
have to get it right, or not at all.  Period.  He certainly conveys 
that IMHO.

My summary is essentially this, that even the least regarded 
Hogwarts' teachers are doing their job.  They are teaching.  Give 
them -- and Dumbledore -- a break.  

Marcus