[HPforGrownups] Snape's abuse (Re: Would an "O" for Harry vindicate Snape?)

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 131496

John K posted:

<lots of examples of Snape being sarcastic, cutting, insulting, etc.>

> I chose the examples above (from many more like them) because these
> are all instances either of Snape acting unprovoked (i.e. not in
> response to anything specific) or blantantly overreacting to a
> situation.  Furthermore, they are all verbatum, and hence not subject
> to the influence of Harry's perceptions (as are his facial
> expressions, etc.)

Well chosen.

> Perhaps when you wonder about abusive methods you are thinking of
> physical abuse, which of course Snape does not use.  However,
> psychological and emotional abuse is just as serious.  I am a high
> school teacher and I can tell you that no matter what a student may
> say or do to me, it is illegal for me to resort to name-calling or
> personal insults.  If a student tries to leave the room, it is illegal
> for me to stand in his way.  It is illegal for me to touch a student
> for any reason except physical protection of another student, even if
> I am being physically assaulted myself.  The lines are drawn so that,
> no matter what, teachers can never abuse students in any way.

Okay, I have to make a point here. Let me say right now that I am NOT
defending Snape's nastiness. But you are equating "abusive" with
"illegal"--and they are not the same (just as "ethical" and "legal" are
often two very very different things).

I have been on the list for almost five years, and every single "Is Snape
abusive?" thread inevitably gets down to semantics--what constitutes
"abuse," how Snape measures up against modern U.S. standards/rules, modern
U.K. standards/rules, etc. I'm not trying to bring us to semantics early and
nip the full bloom of opinion-stating about Snape's methods that this thread
promises--but I really, really cannot let "illegal" and "abusive" stand for
each other. Your example, for instance, has a logical corollary that
standing in a student's way if he tries to leave the room *is* abusive, and
I question the sense of that.

Just because the current American school system is paranoid in the extreme
about holding students accountable for their actions and punishing them in
any way, does not therefore make it true that trying to control a student's
behavior or hold him accountable for his mistakes is therefore abusive.
Snape is doing both of these. I think his methods can be very nasty; but I
fully believe that he is entitled to the goal of control and discipline.  It
sounds like you don't believe either the methods, *or* the ends, are
justified.

And I think children should be exposed to someone like Snape. The sooner
they learn that life isn't fair; that some people are mean for no reason;
that sometimes the mean ones are on your side even if they're not nice; and
that the nice people aren't always your friends--the better. It's called
reality. Most school systems and theories seem to set out to protect
children from reality, rather than give them a chance to learn to deal with
it.

~Amanda