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

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 74933

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Lee" <dee_dolly7 at y...> wrote:
> *snip*
> 
> I have to remind everyone, who says that Neville, and Harry, and 
> Ron, and some-such, are failing potions, that...
> 
> They are NOT failing potions!

My apologies.  When I said "fail," I meant it in the sense of "not 
succeed" rather than in the sense of "receive a failing grade."  I 
didn't mean to create confusion.

No, they're not failing Potions.  Snape is not an idiot.  What he's 
doing is standard practice among teachers who take a personal 
dislike to a student -- give as low a grade as they know can get 
away with.  

If Snape went around flunking students he didn't like, it would lead 
to professional awkwardness.  Parents would complain.  If enough 
complaints came in, Dumbledore or the Board of Governors might 
actually get involved.  If a lot of students are regularly failing a 
core subject while doing reasonably well in other classes, sooner or 
later somebody is going to suggest that perhaps this subject should 
be taught by somebody else.

I suspect that this why Snape didn't start handing out zeroes to 
Harry until the year that grades are disregarded in favor of O.W.L.s.


> Just a few minor thoughts, but I don't think we should blame all 
> Harry's study problems on Snape. 

I'm not.  Harry is not a very scholastically minded kid, and it's 
obvious that he's not giving his academic best in most of his 
classes.  But refusing to grade him fairly on the work he does do 
isn't going to motivate him to put in more work just so he can get 
unfairly graded on that, too.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com