Snape like teacher

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 103167

Over the weekend I had to go up to my old school for a meeting, and 
while I was there I encountered my most 'Snape-like' teacher of 
all, who I've alluded to several times.

Today, I am able to talk to him without almost passing out in fear. 
(-8

I mentioned the discussions we'd been having here, and the fact 
that I was using him as an example of a Snape like teacher. He knew 
what I meant - he's very impressed with the Harry Potter books, 
because somebody has taken the trouble to translate the first one 
into Latin (and he is considering using that as a text with some of 
his advanced students).

I asked him if he thought he was Snape like, and he said, Yes, he 
accepted that, and he said that in his case, it is quite 
deliberate. It is the way he teaches. He's not convinced that is 
necessarily true for Snape - he could just be very very nasty.

When I got home, he'd sent me an e-mail because he'd been thinking 
about the question I asked. There was a paragraph in it, that I 
asked him if I could quote as representative of a real like Snape 
as I think he *possibly* may be.

He's given me permission to quote him (although without a name, as 
he is worried some of his current pupils might see it and make the 
mistake that this indicates some degree of softness and frivolity).

But for your amusement. The teaching philosophy of a real life 
Snape:

"I am the best Classics Master in this country. I am an extremely effective teacher. What I 
am not is warm and cuddly. I don't know how to be. But I do know how to turn obnoxious 
adolescent boys into people capable of appreciating the combined culture of 25 centuries. 
Personally I think that's worth doing. If I can't do it without making a few boys cry. Tough. 
They'll thank me for it as adults. Or they'll hate me. Either way, they'll be better for it."


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