In Defense of Snape (long)

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 122325



Alla

If they performed well, they performed well, because Snape was 
absent in OWL class.
"With Snape absent from the proceedings he found that he was much
more relaxed than he usually was while making potions. Neville, who
was sitting very near Harry, also looked happier than Harry had ever
seen him during a Potions class" - OOP, p.716.
 
How does it make Snape a good teacher, if his only presense 
terrorises the studentts so much that they are unable to reach their 
potential?


Shaun:

Well, there's a few points there:
> 
> (1) Just because Neville looks happier doesn't mean he's more able 
> to reach his potential. A lot of kids do work better in 
> environments where they are happy, but quite a number do not.


Alla:

The gist of my reply  to Betsy was that IF Neville gets a good grade 
( not a given, but I think it is hinted in the text), that would 
mean that he indeed works better in a happy environment, which TO ME 
would mean that Snape does not help him to reach his true potential.

Shaun:
 
(2) There's a difference between learning something and being able 
to show your understanding of it. I'm fairly convinced that Neville 
is better able to express himself outside the presence of Snape, 
but if he does well on his exam, that's going to come from at least 
two places - the comfortable exam environment means he may be 
better able to show his understading, but if he hasn't learnt in 
Snape's classes, the ability to show his understanding would be 
useless, because he wouldn't have anything to show. 

Alla:

Not necessarily at all. Harry feels that he does well on written 
OWL, which was to describe "Polyjuice effects" right? Snape had 
NOTHING to do with teaching them that Potion, accordingly you can 
say that Harry learned it entirely on his own ( well with Hermione 
and Ron's help)

Suppose that Snape was present at the exam. Harry KNOWS the answer, 
but Snape's presence could have stopped him from answering the 
question up to his true potential. He could not have used his 
ability to show understanding at all.



JMO,

Alla