What's wrong with being bad ?

[k_2324]

No: HPFGUIDX 102272

Hmmmm, I didn't really mean to start off a public vs private sector 
debate, I'll choose my words better in the future, a long with a 
better example. That being said, of course some do. Just look at the 
system and it should become obvious why they do it. I mean, think 
about this, you have a private school where the parents are paying, 
in some instances over a thousand dollars a semester. Why are they 
paying that? Because the school's record is impressive. This puts 
amazing pressure on the teacher in each subject to ensure each and 
every student achieves the highest possible mark. In some schools 
(and I'm not saying all), they offer hours and hours of their free 
time to tutor students, they give out examples to help them in their 
essays, they tell the students exactly what the examiner wishes to 
hear in each topic, which areas to concentrate on in external exams 
(SATs for US). Why do they do that? Well they'll be fired if 
performance levels are too low. The school doesn't mind either. Any 
method that gets the school results are encouraged. This keeps up 
their reputation, which will in turn keep the fees required to enroll 
in the school sufficiently high. 

Catholic schools to a lesser extent, but they are still out there. Why, 
because in Catholic schools, the teachers performance is critiqued every 
couple of years, with the parents opinions taken into consideration. But 
not all schools do that. Just some. Yours was obviously an A grade 
school, that's all. I'm sorry if I offended you. Equally bad things 
can be said about public sector schooling, in fact nowadays worse 
things can be said about the public sector schools. However, it's 
appalling how some schools baby their students, it's not right, and 
dreadfully disadvantages them for the future, all because it makes 
their school look good and gives them more money. And yes, I know a 
whole lot of people that have gone through private schools. 
*Shrugs*, what can you do. 

But this is waayyyyy off topic. I think that the Slytherins have a 
right to be upset about how Professor Snape teaches them.  It is 
going to ruin their marks in the OWLs. They are going to enter the 
exam with all this false confidence and perform a lot worse than 
they thought. It's like Severus is ensuring that no Slytherins (or 
very few) receive the required grades to enter his NEWT class. Maybe 
he's doing that intentionally. It would be quite inconvenient if 
DE's were able to infiltrate the Ministry and become aurors, so 
maybe this is Albus's way of making sure this doesn't happen, and 
maybe why Albus trusts Severus so much. Maybe Severus is aiding in 
disadvantaging his own house.

Meh oh well, I'll be interested to see the OWL results. I can't see 
Harry getting the required potions mark to become an auror. Hey 
remember how JKRowling said that the first chapter of book 6 was the 
first chapter she wanted to use in book 1, and every subsequent 
book? It wouldn't be that Harry tries to run away and hide is it, 
because that sort of happened in book 3. But, it is one that she has 
been wanting to write since she started Harry Potter, I thought it 
would have something to do with escaping the Dursleys. Maybe JKR 
found it fit here because of all the added pressures he's been 
under. 

~Ken.