[HPforGrownups] Re: What if other teachers behaved like Snape?

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 101708

On 17 Jun 2004 at 2:39, dumbledore11214 wrote:

> Shawn, I believe that I already told you once how sorry I am for what 
> you went through in your childhood and I am saying it again, but I 
> want clarification on a couple of issues.
> 
> Are you saying that teachers with "non-Snape" teaching methods harmed 
> you or the abuse of your peers did?

Both. Because they were very much tied up together unfortunately

Either of them by themselves I probably could have dealt with - it 
was when they were combined that they became incredibly hellish.
 
> Because if you were harmed that badly by your class mates, it really 
> does not have anything to do with the teachers.

Well, it does - but that is a separate issue.

It has to do with my teachers because those teachers stood by and 
let the abuse from my fellow students happen. But their decision to 
do that, only has a very tenuous connection to their teaching 
methodology.

Part of the problem was really one teacher. If I hadn't had her, 
things probably wouldn't have been as bad. Unfortunately though, 
she was my home room teacher - in other words, the person who 
should have been most responsible for protecting me - and she also 
taught me... three of the seven core subjects I did that year - so 
I had more exposure to her teaching methods than anyone elses.

She wasn't a bad teacher - just not right for me - and she 
*genuinely* cared about me - I know for a fact that in a 
conversation with my mother, she broke down in tears because I was 
hurting so much and she could see that, but she couldn't figure out 
anyway to deal with my pain. She wasn't indifferent, she wasn't a 
bad teacher for other people in the class.

She just wasn't capable of seeing beyond the methods she normally 
used with success.

I *hate* what happened to me. I *hate* what she wound up doing to 
me.

But I won't condemn her because she got it wrong in my case - 
because she got it right in so many others.

Same with Snape - I can't stand to see a teacher condemned because 
people wouldn't have found his methods personally effective.

> Only that they were incapable of stopping the abuse. If on the other 
> hand you were harmed directly by the teachers that will be adifferent 
> story.

They weren't *incapable* of stopping the abuse - they chose not to. 
That is totally distinct from their classroom practice though - 
different issue entirely.

In the classroom, they did harm me - horribly.

> Alla:
> 
> I disagree , Shaun and I am sorry, but I do find your experiences to 
> be unique. 

I wish they were - but they're not. I met two kids yesterday 
through my mentoring work who are currently having basically the 
same experiences - yesterday was a special day - but I probably 
encounter six a year personally, and hear of literally dozens more.

> No, never in my past I dealt with teacher like Snape. Honestly, I did 
> not. That is why his methods are so horrifying to me.

Ah - but if you never personally dealt with one, how can you truly 
judge his methods? (-8

Being serious - I know they can work because I experienced similar 
and they did. I wouldn't know they worked without that experience.  


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia