Snape's grading may not be fair, but...

[Christy Jewell]

No: HPFGUIDX 74886

I don't post a lot, but this one got my attention.
Here's my thoughts on this.

As a teacher, I can tell you that grading always
matters. Teachers wouldn't assign grades if there was
no purpose for them and I think that JKR has shown
that the grades are used. After all, we know that
Hermione is top in the class, right? How else would
that be determined outside of grades?

Snape may not be fair, but I don't think that what
he's doing has anything to do with being mean.

He's trying to motivate the kids to work HARDER!
Here's what the usual thought is. With the rare
exception of kids like Hermione, who'd probably work
hard no matter what, most kids are not highly
motivated to work hard. Especially when they are
getting good grades.

By grading Harry(or anyone else) lower he motivates
him to work harder to get a better grade. Now granted,
there are limits to this. If you try to push kids to
hard they stop working altogether, believeing it's
impossible to do better.

I don't think that's Harry though, and I think Snape
knows it. Harry works harder to prove Sanpe wrong,
after all. The theory has backfired with Neville (and
probaly other students before) but how Snape teaches
is pretty common in inner cities where getting the
kids to become motivated can be hard. You push them to
do better. Teachers aren't there to be the kids
friends. They have their friends for that. 

I think that Snape knows what he's doing. Maybe he
doesn't like Harry, but I also don't think he wants to
see Harry fail. He's using a specific teaching style.
Not always right, but frequently it works. And works
well.

Just my thoughts,
Christy

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