The student reaction to the tooth incident

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 70947

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "bluesqueak" <pipdowns at e...> 
wrote:
> Darrin:
> > The fact remains, he [Snape]didn't lift a finger to help her, nor 
> > did he show the slightest hint of caring whether her teeth grew to 
> > the floor.
> 
> Darrin, let me explain something to you. 
> 
> In words of one syllable: Snape. Is. A. Git.

Just so we know. This is not an admirable characteristic. I think it gets 
confused at times.

> 
> Err, lets rephrase this, Darrin. Snape behaves in a manner that no 
> other teacher *at Hogwarts* would. Except for Umbridge, of course, 
> who tortures students and leaves permanent physical scars. And 
> possibly Lockhart, who is happy to leave a student to die when he's 
> told information that might save her. Oh, and Quirrel, who tries to 
> curse a student off his broom. Did I leave out Lupin? He's a nice 
> guy. Apart from his delaying nearly a term and a half to teach Harry 
> how to handle the Dementors who keep attacking him, and then 
> agreeing to have himself chained to a student on the night of a full 
> moon. 

And what do all four of these teachers have in common?

They... are... no... longer...at...Hogwarts. 

One dead, one hospitalized, one resigned (though D-Dore made no move to 
stop this) and one beaten up by centaurs.


> Hagrid, of course, routinely injures his students (but doesn't use 
> sarcasm, so that's OK). 

Do you see a student having to go to the hospital on his or her own in his 
class? Or not receiving first aid in his class?

If Snape is acting on orders from Dumbledore, and that is revealed, then fine, i 
will re-evaluate. Dumbledore alone is qualified to make the determination as 
to what the kids should go through to toughen up, including detentions in the 
Forest, crawling into an obstacle course, etc...

> And you complain because Snape is *sarcastic* to his students and 
> delays 10 seconds in sending a child to the hospital wing? [grin]. 

There is no evidence that he would have sent her. It is purely speculation that 
he would have gotten around to it. He certainly showed no inclination to.

> Or do you mean that Snape behaves in a way that no RL teacher would? 
> Because most large (and many small) British senior schools have at 
> least one Snape (Mine certainly did). And if their students get good 
> exam results, they are tolerated. In Britain, you see, sarcasm is a 
> regular occurrence. If your response to it is to burst into tears, 
> then you are going to be heavily handicapped in adult life. Best to 
> learn how to deal with sarcastic comments in school.

Sarcasm is one thing, something I've repeatedly said, so long as he uses it as 
a teaching tool, is fine. But we're talking about a physical injury, suffered by a 
student, through no fault of her own.

 
> Incidentally, Darrin, could you explain to me how Snape *knows* that 
> Hermione is an innocent bystander? He arrived after the event and 
> has a group of kids all insisting that each of them attacked the 
> other. We're talking Miss 'steal Potions ingredients, plan to let 
> off fireworks in class and attack a teacher' Granger here. *Harry 
> and Co.* know that they're the attacked party. Snape has no way of 
> knowing that. 


Good point. Snape didn't bother to try and find out did he? And no Slytherin 
received a detention for the act. But, we should just laugh at double-standard 
bearing gits.

Snape also has no way of knowing Hermione did all the above, so his slate 
should be clean with her.

 
> > Hermione clearly can handle what Snape throws at her. I'm saying 
> > she shouldn't have to and I sincerely doubt Snape has such 
> > character-building exercises in mind when he does it.
> 
> And there we disagree. Hermione does have to learn to handle what 
> Snape throws at her. Do you think the pureblood wizards are always 
> going to blatantly shout 'mudblood' at her? Or are the Malfoys and 
> their ilk just going to make comments about her 'bushy' hair, her 
> big teeth? 'their kind don't set much store by punctuality'. [that's 
> the Dursley's about wizards, but it's the same kind of indirect 
> insult that all bigots produce].
> 
> I repeat, if Hermione's reaction to sarcasm and insults is to burst 
> into tears, she is going to be *seriously* handicapped in adult 
> life. 
>

Why is it so hard to grasp that the reaction isn't to just the sarcasm, but to the 
complete refusal of an adult authority figure that she has every reason to trust 
to help her to do so?

And he had every responsibility to do so. Just as he has when other students, 
such as Slytherins, have been hurt.

But I guess she does need to learn that some people would rather indulge 
their petty hates than do their job as well.  I just have a hard time believing 
Snape is deep enough to really be consciously teaching her a lesson and not 
just getting his jollies.

Darrin
-- Sorry, I'm at work and had to respond hit and miss to this.