What's wrong with being bad ?

kyntor70 marcuscason at charter.net
Sat Jun 19 18:56:26 UTC 2004


No: HPFGUIDX 102036

Dreadnought wrote:

> It's not nobility - it's self interest. He's a teacher - his 
> students performance makes him look good, their lack of performance 
> makes him look bad.
> 
> I somehow don't think Snape would enjoy being criticised by 
> Dumbledore - and I do think Dumbledore would be likely to do so if 
> whole Houses started failing a subject.
> 
> I don't think Snape would enjoy having to answer to outraged 
> parents either.
> 
> A less than perfect teacher, even a cruel teacher, may be tolerated 
> while he is achieving decent results - but I doubt he would be if 
> he wasn't even discharging the most basic function of his 
> profession satisfactorally.
> 
> I've no way of knowing where the lines are for Snape, of course - 
> but it's certainly possible they are at a point which requires him 
> to teach.

Kyntor replies:

I don't think that Snape is a member of the Hogwarts staff because he 
is a good teacher (indeed not).  I believe that he is there so that 
he can be a "useful spy" to Voldemort when he is reborn.  Dumbledore 
knows that Voldemort was not killed by Harry on Halloween 1981.  
Dumbledore expects him to resurface later.  I think Dumbledore is 
willing to "make do" with a poor Potions Professor for the benefits 
that a double agent will give him.


Dreadnought wrote:

> Let me make it clear in case I haven't been. Snape's treatment of 
> Harry is, in every instance where it differs from his treatment of 
> other students, indefensible and reprehensible. But Harry is a 
> special case, IMHO - Snape's hatred of him is separate to his 
> treatment of his other students.

Kyntor replies:

Great! We agree!  Snape treats Harry different from the students most 
of the time.  We also see him treat Hermione and Neville differently.

Snape's "teaching methods" are not for the benefit of his students.  
These "methods" are there either for his own twisted pleasure, bias, 
and/or so he can demonstrate to the world that he hates Gryffindors 
and Harry Potter.

Snape may be a great potions master, but he is a horible teacher.  
The only reason that I feel he is allowed to continue is because he 
is useful in other areas (see above reply).


Dreadnought wrote:

> Well, no, because I don't think treating the Gryffindors in the 
> same way he treats the Slytherins would necessarily be the most 
> effective way of teaching the Gryffindors.

Kyntor replies:

Maybe not, but it can be any worse of a teaching method than the 
rancor he currently uses on them.


Dreadnought wrote:
 
> Effective teaching does *not* involve treating all children in 
> exactly the same way. That idea is the *single most important 
> reason* why my own education was such a horrible experience when it 
> involved methods that many people would find quite attractive. 
> 
> When you do that, you always wind up neglecting some children's 
> educational needs in favour of the others.
> 
> We don't see too much of how Snape teaches the Slytherins - it's 
> possible the methods he uses with them are good methods (although 
> it also seems possible he lets them get away with not learning if 
> they don't want to). But even if they are good methods for the 
> Slytherins, that would not automatically make them good methods for 
> the Gryffindors.

Kyntor replies:

I don't really know that it is a good idea for a teacher to divide a 
class into two seperate "teaching methods" before even the first 
class begins.  The teacher doesn't know anything about the student's 
personalities or individual histories the first time he meets them 
(even with them being divided into one of four houses).

The best method would be to begin teaching a class one way, in a 
clear, fair, and strait-forward presentation of the material.  Once 
the teacher sees students that are having trouble with this method, 
he/she should meet with the students and give them the individual 
help they need.

Of course this would be completely out of character for Snape.  I 
think that his "teaching methods" show that he does not really care 
about his student's education.  If his students do well in Potions, 
it is because they really want to learn potions or they need the 
class for their chosen proffessions, not because of anything Snape 
has done.

  
Dreadnought wrote:

> Personally I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the 
> Gryffindor's marks are, on average, higher than the Slytherins - 
> because I think they are generally more likely to work harder, and 
> they also don't have Crabbe and Goyle.

Kyntor replies:

I agree with you here.  Not because of the different "teaching 
methods" involved but because of the individual students involved.  I 
believe that this particular Gryffindor class would always outperform 
this particular Slytherin class no matter what reasonable (no setting 
children on fire) teaching methods were used.


Dreadnought wrote:

> I could believe that JKR might have something like what you 
> describe in mind if if five books, she'd ever given us the 
> impression that the Muggle world was a better one than the 
> Wizarding World.
> 
> But for the life of me, offhand, I can't think of a single case.

Kyntor replies:

No, you are not missing anything.  I don't remember JKR overtly 
saying anything either.  However, I do believe that JKR wants us to 
compare and contrast our own society with the one she describes in 
her books, and make our own conclusions (this would be a good English 
paper).

Kyntor





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