Binns (was Snape)

[quigonginger]

No: HPFGUIDX 143906

unlikely 2 wrote:
> (snip)
> Snape talks the talk but I think Binns does more real damage than
> Snape and, given the choice, I'd prefer Snape to Binns any day.
(snip)

Ginger:

This caught my eye as I had just had a conversation the other day
along the lines of "if you were at Hogwarts, who would be your
favourite teacher?" It lead to "which teacher would you do best
under?"

I had said Binns would be the one in whose class I would excel. I'm
surprised to hear that you think he does more damage than Snape.
Would you mind elabourating on this?

Binns knows his subject, presents the information and then tests his
students on what they have learned. He also has them look things up
themselves and write reports, which is a good method for some people.
(I know if I look something up I am more likely to remember it than
if it is simply told to me.)

Binns sticks to his subject. Certainly a teacher can get to know the
students, but the subject ought to be the focal point of the lesson.
Binns comes to class prepared to lecture on the topic of the day.
The students are expected to listen and learn.

What I like about Binns is that each student gets out of it *exactly*
what that student puts into it. If a student wants a good grade, the
student simply has to take what the student is given and apply it.
There is no "spoonfeeding" or coddling in which the teacher does all
the work, nor does Binns force the students to guess what they are
supposed to learn and figure it out for themselves. (If anyone
wonders what I am referencing, it is RL teachers, not Hogwarts ones-
just wanted to make that clear.)

I realize that Binns wouldn't work for everyone, and that the vast
majority of us (myself included) would rather spend our time with
someone more interesting, but I am wondering how his teaching could
be described as "damaging". It seems to me that the worst that could
happen in his class would be the waste of time (barring head/desk
injuries, of course ;0))

Ginger, who always did well in the "memorize and regurgitate" classes
and was hopeless at anything that required actual logic and thought.