OK we're to THAT point on Snape/Different Topic

[dzeytoun]

No: HPFGUIDX 101760

Shaun said:

 A lot of these 
> kids are *very* attracted to the world they see in Harry Potter - 
> and a couple I know of have significant contact with rather Snape 
> like teachers - who they value in the same way I value the ones I 
> encountered... regarding such teachers as irredeemably abusive - 
> well, to a great extent, that comes very close to telling these 
> kids if they are reading, that there is something *wrong* with them 
> - or that their experiences as students are somehow less valuable 
> or less correct than the people who like all their wonderfully 
> kind, compassionate teachers who tell them how great they are.

OK.  I'm not sure that a method or tradition is worthwhile simply 
because some people derive benefit from it.  There are lots of things 
out there that benefit some people that nevertheless, as a whole, 
create more pain and harm in the world than they do good.  I won't 
give some obvious historical examples because I think I would be 
perceived as being hurtful and making comparisons I really don't 
intend to make.  

Still, I acknowledge your point.

> 
> Now am I saying that Professor Severus Snape *is* a good teacher? 
> No, not really. I'm of the opinion we don't have enough real 
> information one way or the other to be sure. To assess whether he 
> is a good teacher, you'd need to look at a lot more than just how 
> he manages a classroom - like the results he achieves.

This is an excellent point and one with which I totally agree.  Lots 
of people opine that Snape gets good results in terms of his 
students' performance.  I think this is largely speculation.  I did 
an admittedly fast review of canon last night and could find no 
references in which it was indicated that Snape got good performance 
out of his students, that they generally did well on OWLS, that 
people regarded him as making students learn, etc.  All the 
references I could find - and I may well have missed some - speak to 
his own personal expertise at potions, NOT to how much his students 
learn, etc.  McGonagall at least obliquely acknowledges, in 
the "Career Advice" part of OOTP, that some people just don't seem to 
prosper very well under Snape's tutelage.

> 
> I definitely think you are on to the nub of the issue here. I think 
> a lot has to do with the net.
> 

Yes, I believe that the net is definitely the main technological 
development driving this trend, and it IS definitely a trend in 
literature and, as you say, other things.  Which is why I think the 
type of thing we see in HP discussions is not an aberration, but an 
indication of a future trend.

Dzeytoun