[HPforGrownups] Hermione/Snape (OoP and a bit from PS/SS)

[Robert A. Rosenberg]

No: HPFGUIDX 70021

At 09:45 +1000 on 07/13/2003, Shaun Hately wrote about Re: 
[HPforGrownups] Hermione/Snape (OoP and a bit from PS/S:

>Either he is a bad teacher, period, who shouldn't be anywhere near a
>school - or he's a good teacher, who on this occasion, did something a
>good teacher should never do.

I think someone can be both. There are two aspects of Teaching a 
Subject - Lecturing (the act of transferring knowledge to the 
students) and Instruction (The act of interacting with a student by 
answering their questions [to clarify their absorption/understanding 
of the subject matter] and asking them questions to test their 
knowledge of the subject matter).

Snipe seems to be good at the former - It is in the interaction with 
the students that he has problems.  The former is good reason for him 
to teach, the latter is a reason why he should be restricted to 
lecturing with someone-else handling the testing and clarification 
aspects (ie: The so called Lab section). Potions fits into this 
format since it is not a pure learning course but also has an "Apply 
that Knowledge" aspect that would allow the off loading of the "Ask 
for Clarification" and "See if the Students are understanding" aspect 
of the Course to the Teacher/Instructor who handles the Lab.


At 02:29 +0000 07/13/2003, darrin_burnett wrote about [HPforGrownups] 
Re: Hermione/Snape (OoP and a bit from PS/S:
>I don't ever recall a teacher making fun of my personal appearance 
>(and, as a fat kid who didn't lose weight until ninth grade, there 
>was plenty of me to make fun of.)

Part of the teachers behavior is dependent on what subject they are 
teaching. A PE (Phys Ed/Gym) teacher (or Army Drill 
Instructor/Sergeant) would be within their "Job Spec" to make fun of 
an out-of-shape student as a way of motivating them to get into shape.


At 12:40 +1000 07/13/2003, Shaun Hately wrote about Re: 
[HPforGrownups] Re: Hermione/Snape (OoP and a bit from :
>With regards to Neville... I'm not sure at the moment. Prior to Order of
>the Phoenix, I would say that Snape's treatment of Neville was much
>worse than his treatment of Hermione. But the difference is, his
>mistreatment of Neville does generally take place in a classroom
>environment which means I can accept the possibility it's a teaching
>strategy rather that egregious cruelty. And the 'new improved' Neville
>of Order of the Phoenix, means I can see a *possibility* that Neville
>may have benefitted from Snape's teaching. That doesn't necessarily make
>his treatment of Neville justified - but it does open the possibility
>that he did have Neville's 'best interests' at heart.

Why not just look at it that Neville needed support and confidence 
building that Snipe was unable/unwilling to give and it was only when 
Snipe's presence was removed (at the OWLS) that Neville could perform 
at an acceptable level. IOW: Snipe's treatment of Neville was CAUSING 
the failures not Neville's inherent inability to learn or perform. As 
I've said above (and in prior messages) there is a difference between 
Teaching (Lecturing) and Instructing (interacting with the Students). 
Neville needed a good Instructor but was given a Teacher who was 
unable/unwilling to function as an Instructor.

At 12:40 +1000 07/13/2003, Shaun Hately wrote about Re: 
[HPforGrownups] Re: Hermione/Snape (OoP and a bit from :
>  > And Hermionie, who's a far better judge of character, quite rightly
>>  tries to hide her face. She knows enough of his *manner* to expect
>>  what's coming as his normal response.  A crap response obviously, but
>  > I still think it's normal for Snape. I don't really see this as an
>  > argument for this incident being extraordinarily cruel.
>
>I don't think that's why Hermione is hiding her face at all. It could
>be, but I think it's far more likely that she doesn't want anyone to see
>it - not that she knows Snape well enough to know how he will react. In
>fact, I believe she'd be more likely to expect Snape to be fair than Ron
>would - especially if this is the girl some people are claiming has the
>insight needed to more readily trust Snape in OotP.

You are forgetting the aftermath of the incident. She gets her teeth 
not only restored to their original size but reduced to a more 
"normal" size. She gives as her reason that she had hang-ups about 
the size of her teeth, which her parents were unwilling to rectify, 
so she took matters into her own hands when presented with the chance 
to have the problem magically corrected. Given her STATED hang-ups 
about the size of her teeth, her "hiding her face" when they were 
enlarged is perfectly understandable


At 19:31 +0000 07/13/2003, adamjmarcantel wrote about [HPforGrownups] 
Re: Hermione/Snape (OoP and a bit from PS/S:
>However, the main point of the post was to give a possible 
>explanation as to why the "bucktooth incident" doesn't seem to 
>bother Hermione as much as we seem to think it should. Alot of 
>people has said things to the effect of Hermione let this incident 
>go because she trusts Snape because Dumbledore does.


Insult or not, Snipe did NOT interfere with Hermione's unilateral 
action in going to the Hospital without permission/orders. Given that 
the incident gave her an excuse to have her buckteeth repaired I can 
see her "cutting him some slack" for the insult since the result of 
being ALLOWED to go to the Hospital was the same.


--

Bob Rosenberg