Evaluating Snape (was: Re: Lupin's resentment )

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 94220

Kneasy wrote:
>So far as Potions is concerned, all is sound and fury and signifying
>nothing.

Siriusly Snapey Susan retorted:
>Ah, is it a tale told by an idiot, then, too? Do tell! ;-)

Kneasy:
> Quite  possibly. And there are those that would agree with you.


Siriusly Snapey Susan:
Ack!!  I was just picking up on the Shakespeare thread. *I* would 
not argue that Snape is an idiot.  Well, actually, I find his 
teaching methods sometimes idiotic, but beyond that, I do not see 
him as an idiot at all.  Quite the opposite.


You wrote that you weren't responding to me specifically, just 
joining the thread at that point.  That's fine.  I simply assumed, 
because of the part of my post you left in, that it was appropriate 
to ask you what I did:
******************
Kneasy said:
> And no, I don't blame Snape. All Harry has to do is *do what he's
> told*. But it seems that that is too much to ask. Just as in other
> aspects of his teenage progress, Harry doesn't listen, does what
> *he* wants and of course it's somebody else's fault when his
> brilliant strategies don't work out.

Susan again:
>Now, Kneasy, kindly tell me how *in the example I gave, above, to
>which your post was responding,* Harry didn't do what he was told?  
>What did he choose to do that was wrong, what did he not listen to?
>He MADE his potion & turned it in. Hermione cleared out his
>cauldron w/o his permission, and Snape "dropped" his potion sample.
>What did Harry do wrong here?
*****************
I'm sorry if I was wrong about that.  I was simply curious how you 
would find that Harry had not done what he was told in that one.


Kneasy:
> It seems so incongruous to level charges like mental abuse when
> there is no evidence that Harry has been affected in the slightest
> by anything Snape has thrown at him. If he were affected I'm sure
> JKR would have brought it to the surface by now.

Siriusly Snapey Susan:
No evidence??  You mean like his lack of progress w/ Occlumency?  I 
suspect if Lupin, McGonagall, DD, heck, throw in Flitwick, had been 
Harry's Occulumency teacher, he *would* have learned.  Their history-
-which is a *two-way street* of assumptions and nastiness and hatred-
-directly affects Harry's ability & willingness to learn 
Occlumency.  Notice I'm not absolving Harry of responsibility for 
his part in the matter, but I am saying that I do indeed believe 
that what Snape has thrown at Harry for five years *has* most 
definitely affected Harry in this way.
 

Kneasy:
> Especially so when the charge doesn't  exist in the country where 
> Snape is based. I'd never heard of 'Grade abuse' until it was 
> posted on site. 

Siriusly Snapey Susan:
Jeepers, I made that up!  I should NEVER have coined the phrase in 
the first place; it was half in jest, which clearly didn't come 
through.  I meant, simply, giving a student a grade less than what 
he deserved, but I'm sorry I brought it up. :-|  At this point, I'm 
not arguing about grades any longer--I mentioned that your argument 
about the role of grades at Hogwarts had swayed me a great deal.  I 
am arguing about Snape's lack of fairness towards Harry (and 
Hermione, Neville, Ron) and his general teaching practices & how I 
believe they have hurt these kids' learning.


Kneasy:
> Perhaps I'm behind the times. Cynically, I'd not be surprised
> if in the majority off cases it wasn't a professional 
> educationalists/ social scientists phrase for "Doesn't  deserve 
> the marks but needs an excuse to get a pass." But  what  do  I  
> know.

Siriusly Snapey Susan:
For what it's worth, I *was* one of those dreaded professional 
educators.  I do not believe in making excuses to pass students.  I 
never did it; I don't condone it.  I do believe that students do 
deserve teachers who TEACH, though, and who at least make a passable 
attempt to place fairness into their classrooms and--dare I say?--
respect there as well?  

As Vmonte just asked in another post, how fair is Snape's treatment 
of Hermione?  She knows her stuff, works hard, attempts to answer 
questions.  Snape will not abide her.  And *I* find that--and his 
treatment of Harry many times [not every time!]--to be reprehensible.

Siriusly Snapey Susan