Snape/McGonagall/Neville (was: Admonishing Snape)

[demetra1225]

No: HPFGUIDX 130052

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lupinlore" <bob.oliver at c...> 
wrote:
Snip:
> As I say, I think the thing thatgets in the way of my believing 
McGonagall regards Snape as a friend
> is his unfairness to, indeed open disdain for, her house. I find it
> hard to believe that she would just wave that off and merrily 
stroll
> arm in arm with him through the gardens on his way to abusing more
> Gryffindors. [snip]

Demetra:
But does she really see his actions as abuse of her Gryffindors?

I've pondered the question of what the other teachers think of Snape 
and his methods for a while.  I haven't found any evidence in the 
books to indicate to me that the other teachers have issues with 
Snape as a teacher.  Again, look at McGonagall's comments about 
Trelawney and Lockhart, her dislike of them as teachers is obvious.  
Furthermore, look at all of the teacher's comments about and 
treatment of Umbridge.  I think that if the other teachers, 
especially McGonagall, had issues with Snape we would have seen 
clearer evidence by now.  
As for the question of *why* the other teachers seem to be OK with 
him – I'm not sure, but I suspect that this may have to do with 
cultural differences in what methods are OK when dealing with a 
difficult and potentially dangerous subject matter.  A couple of RL 
analogies come to mind.  

I was a nurse on a surgical unit in a University Medical Center for 
a number of years.  This means I witnessed many "teaching moments" 
between medical students and/or residents and attending surgeons.  
Sadistic is almost a mild word to describe how the surgeons 
sometimes verbally assailed the residents.  They would latch on to 
the tiniest weakness  and proceed to flail the students and 
residents.  Mind you, this behavior was totally accepted and 
defended as necessary to training the doctor so that they could 
think quickly, because in medicine you don't always have the time to 
go to the library and look something up.  It always seemed to me 
that the attending surgeons particularly delighted in their sadistic 
behavior – they wore it like a badge of honor.  And quite frankly no 
one, including those who had been raked over the coals, ever 
complained.  
Of course, playing devils advocate with myself, one problem I see 
with this analogy, is that these residents are young men and women 
in their early 20's (barring the occasional Doogie Howser), not 11 
to 17 year olds like the kids at Hogwarts.  

The other analogy probably fits better with the age range.  Think 
about the young girls involved in competitive gymnastics.  Now, this 
is an area I have no special knowledge of, except for occasionally 
watching during the Olympics.  But, I do recall seeing a segment on 
TV about some gymnastics coaches (like Bela Karolyi, etc).  They are 
very successful in turning out medal winning gymnasts, but the 
training methods are extremely harsh.  These young girls are pushed 
to train past the appropriate point, IMO.  Methods include feeding 
them little and raging if their weight creeps above 100 lbs. The 
girls often suffer from  stress fractures and stunted growth.  Yet 
there is very little criticism of  these coaches or their methods 
from the gymnastics community.  In fact, parents of budding 
gymnastics stars pay exorbitant amounts of money to send their 
children to be abused in this fashion.
So while *I* find the methods objectionable, those in the industry 
apparently don't.  
Perhaps there is a similar situation going on at Hogwarts.  While 
you and I see a problem, in the context of life at Hogwarts, the 
other teachers simply don't think there is anything wrong with 
Snape's methods.  
 
Demetra