Harry's anger (was Re: Draco's anger.)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 122538


> Pippin wrote: 
> You are right that in either case, it would be reasonable for  Harry 
> to be angry at Snape for being a crummy teacher. Except that 
> Harry *doesn't * think Snape is a crummy teacher. He has never once  
> thought, either in potions or in occlumency, "If Snape didn't 
> badger me and make me feel like a failure, I could learn this 
> stuff."  It's the conclusion of some readers, but not, so far, of  
> Harry himself.
> 
> 
> Alla disagreed:
> 
> I beg to differ, Pippin. Harry does reach such conclusion, more than 
> once. He does not generalise it, but in each of the following 
> instances he does question Snape's teaching ability, IMO.
> <snip quote>
> We also Have Harry's "I am trying,... but you are not telling me 
> how" - OOP, p.535, which as you recently agreed is quite a 
> legitimate complaint against Snape's teaching style.
> 
> Oh and in PoA before their boggart lesson ,when Snape so "kindly" 
> puts Neville down before lesson starts:
> <snip quote>
> So, I'd say Harry has plenty negative thoughts about Snape's 
> teaching style.
> 
> Just my opinion,
> 
> Alla


Carol responds:
But teaching *style* and teaching *ability* are two different things.
Surely there's no question that Snape knows his subject (Potions--I'm
not getting into Occlumency here), the first criterion for teaching
ability. The question that has not yet been fully answered is whether
his students are learning what he's teaching. But surely both Neville
and Harry must have learned *something* in Snape's class to perform as
well as they apparently did on the Potions OWL. We'll find out more on
that topic in HBP. Till then, the evidence is not in.

And as Pippin said, Harry has not yet blamed Snape for his
unimpressive performance in Potions (I'm not counting zeroes; I'm
considering only Harry's potion-making skills). Harry knows that he
doesn't study, that he puts off his homework till the last minute,
that he doesn't pay attention in class. If it weren't for Hermione,
both he and Ron would probably fail most of their classes. IMO, she's
doing them no favor by doing their work for them or correcting it
before they turn it in. And *that* is no fault of Snape's.

Carol