OoP(Spoilers) Snape as teacher

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 67084

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kathryn Cawte" 
<kcawte at b...> wrote:
>  
> Darrin said -
>  
> So, I'd like to see what Snape has created in his career. I'm 
sure he 
== has, but it would be nice to see.
>  
> 
> [Kathryn]-
>  I wonder if he isn't responsible for the Wolfsbane potion. 
Werewolves clearly aren't well thought of in the WW in general so 
I don't imagine anyone would invent this unless they knew a 
werewolf personally or were commissioned by someone to 
invent it - with Voldemort rising again Albus
> would want Lupin at his most effective (as one of the members 
of the Orderlast time round). <<

Or maybe Snape began developing  the potion while he was 
working for Voldemort?  We know LV was trying to recruit giants 
and others who were oppressed by the WW. Werewolves who 
could obey orders while transformed would make a very useful 
addition to LV's army.

The situation with the wolfsbane potion reminds me of the 
"orphan drug" problem in the real world. There is  little 
commercial incentive to produce medicines that are needed
only by people with rare diseases.  It would be horribly ironic if 
the only person who would finance the development of a potion 
to help werewolves was LV.

As far as Snape's attitude toward his students, we don't really 
know how much effort the other students are putting into the 
course. Once enshrined in the standard curriculum, subjects 
tend to hang around, even if the original reason for teaching 
them has disappeared. Today the wizarding world has 
commercial potions like Sleekeasy's and Mrs. Scours, so maybe 
most wizards really don't need to know elementary 
potion-making any longer.I expect  the students who don't need it 
for  their careers  blow it off, infuriating Snape who hates to see 
anything done badly. 

JKR said in an interview that Dumbledore puts up with Snape's 
teaching style because he thinks the students should be 
exposed to all sorts of people. The philosophy  that one should 
learn to endure  a certain amount of abuse often arises in 
authoritarian cultures, where resistance would meet with little 
support and might bring about more severe consequences than 
being pushed around by  petty tyrants like Snape.

 Dumbledore,   is, after all, not preparing his students to live in a 
liberal, rights-oriented society, but  under the highly arbitrary and 
occasionally despotic regime of the Ministry of Magic, 

Pippin