Snape's teaching methods

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 144033

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > <snip>
> > Neville passes potions every year, his cauldrons-melted-or-     
> > otherwise-destroyed statistics decrease steadily, and his        
> > potions improve.  So what Snape actually sees (if we go by the   
> > books, anyway) is a challenged student improving.  If it's       
> > working, why should Snape change his methods?

> >>Alla:
> Well, how do you figure that Neville does not flunk the potions 
> every year? 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Because Neville progresses with the rest of the class.  I strongly 
doubt Hogwarts has adopted the social advancement theory of 
education.  (Did any traditional English boarding school of the type 
Hogwarts is fashioned after pass students despite performance?)  
IIRC, in CoS Harry and Ron allude to students flunking out of 
Hogwarts when they're disappointed to learn Goyle or Crabbe has 
returned.

I'm not sure if merely flunking Potions would fail you out of 
Hogwarts, though I believe it is a part of the core curriculum.  But 
I'm pretty sure that if Neville didn't pass third year Potions he'd 
have to repeat it and would not take fourth year Potions with his 
classmates in GoF.  (Unless Hogwarts offered some form of summer 
school, though everything in the books suggests it doesn't.)

There's also some points where Neville outperforms Harry (in OotP, 
IIRC), and I'm fairly sure he's not nearly as destructive (read, his 
potions are much closer to correct) after PoA.

> >>Betsy Hp: 
> > Hmmm, I actually think Snape really *does* want Neville to      
> > succeed. Not necessarily because he wants *Neville* to succeed, 
> > but because he doesn't want to fail as a teacher. I think Snape 
> > is the type to see his students' performance as a reflection of 
> > his own performance as a teacher.

> >>Magpie:
> Yes, I do think Snape sets up his class with the goal of students 
> getting good grades on their OWLS and NEWTS and actually knowing  
> Potions well. It's funny, actually, to go through and look at what 
> Snape likes as a teacher, because he's not lazy, that's one thing 
> to say about him. I think he really is annoyed by Hermione as a    
> student--and Neville as well. Double that when Hermione does      
> Neville's work for him.

Betsy Hp:
I think Hermione can be a disruptive student in her own way, 
sometimes.  She's so eager to be the first to answer, to be the most 
correct and give the most thorough answers that she can intimidate 
the other students into not bothering.  I believe there's even a 
moment in one of the books where the rest of the class is described 
as just waiting for Hermione to answer a question rather than try 
themselves.  And that's not a really great classroom environment, I 
think.

Snape, especially, tends to not call on Hermione, and he gets down 
right pissy when she answers out of turn.  Because he knows she 
knows.  Everyone knows she knows, and he's trying to suss out the 
rest of the class.  And when she effectively sabatoges his assigment 
to Neville I do think Snape was quite annoyed.  Not because he was 
all about seeing Trevor die and Neville cry, but because he was 
about forcing Neville to succeed.

> >>Sherry:
> And to add to Alla and Jerry, no defense of Snape's abysmal people 
> skills as a teacher can excuse his publicly humiliating Neville at 
> the beginning of the boggart DADA lesson. That was so outrageous   
> and sends my blood boiling every time I read it. Snape mocked a   
> student in front of his class and another teacher in a viciously   
> unkind manner.

Betsy Hp:
Oh yes, this is a perfect example of Snape behaving badly.  When he 
gets angry he does tend to lash out.  I understand where his anger 
is coming from.  Neville has just cheated, and then Lupin brings the 
entire class marching into the staff room where Snape has obviously 
settled in for some down time.  (IIRC, Lupin does some of his 
passive-aggressive "Severus"-ing, too.)

But, it was bad form for Snape to attack Neville like that, I 
agree.  And kudos to Lupin for turning it around on him.  (I'm 
betting the hat in the Christmas cracker was an example of 
Dumbledore lightly chiding Snape, as well.)

Snape is certainly not a perfect individual, and he does have an 
instinct for cutting cruelty that he's not always able to reign in.  
And it does sometimes lead him into petty behavior he should 
consider beneath him.  But, within the classroom, I still think his 
motivation with Neville is getting him through the class, rather 
than mere sadistic humiliation.

Betsy Hp