[HPforGrownups] Re: Question for Snape Bashers

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 102394

On 22 Jun 2004 at 2:58, darrin_burnett wrote:

> Regardless, I'd like to see explanations from the Snape apologists as 
> to why it's an effective teaching tool to belittle a student in front 
> of other teachers in other classes.


It depends on the motivation behind it. If the intent is to 
persuade the student to modify their behaviour by creating a 
situation they don't like, and will not want to experience a repear 
of it, then doing this in front of others can be a highly effective 
teaching tool.

I'm not saying I approve of the practice in general, because I 
don't (I think there can be very specific circumstance where it may 
be justified) - but it certainly can be highly effective.
 
> I don't doubt that Snape's methods sometimes work. Some students will 
> respond to sheer terror. I just don't think he gives a damn one way 
> or the other whether the students get it or not.

The thing is, it isn't sheer terror - or rather there's no reason 
to suppose it is. It certainly could be in some cases.

But having experienced these methods and having experienced them 
working, they didn't work on me because I was terrified. They 
worked because I didn't enjoy them - but the feelings involved were 
nowhere near 'terror' levels. They were generally mildly 
unpleasant.

I can't see these methods coming close to terror for most children 
- the fact is, I was a sensitive child. I was easily scared. I 
tended to cry a lot which made things very bad for me at times. I 
wasn't unusually resilient - I was quite the opposite (at least 
until I was 16). I'm the type of person who, according to the 
theorists, should have been harmed by these methods. But I wasn't.

And out of all the people I know who experienced them, I don't know 
anyone who was.


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