Bad Writing? (was: JKR and the boys)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 162976

--- Bart Lidofsky <bartl at ...> wrote:
>
> Bruce Alan Wilson wrote:
> > Anent Snape, I don't see that he's abusive. Mean, yes.
> > Unfair, yes.  But abusive?  No.   

> Bart:
> 
> So, purposefully destroying a student's work to ensure 
> that he fails is NOT abusive?
> 
> Bart
>

bboyminn:

I've been meaning to make this comment in this thread but
really, until now, haven't been able to find a place where
it was relevant to the conversation. But I think now the 
door has been open. Though I will admit up front that it 
is a very minor comment.

This alleged act by Snape is not abusive, certainly 
annoying but not abusive, because the grade/marks for that
one lesson, indeed for that entire year, and even further 
for their entire time at Hogwarts are meaningless. 

The only thing that /counts/ is the marks on the 
Standardized Test (OWL/NEWT). Those test represent your
qualifications when you go into the wizard world and apply
for a job. I seriously doubt that any potential employer 
is going to look at your yearly school grades when they 
have the results of your OWLs and NEWTs in front of them. 

Also note that we never see a student held back or 
required to re-take a course until /AFTER/ OWL tests. The
reason, I speculate, is that yearly school marks are 
merely a progress report for the students and parents, 
to measure the level of learning leading up to the 
Standardized Tests. But while yearly school marks do 
exits they simply don't count for anything. It is the
OWL test the represent you true qualification. If you fail
an OWL test, you either accept the failure, or you retake
the course and the OWL test.

So, while I'm sure it annoyed the heck out of Harry that
Snape was so petty and vindictive that he would ruin one
of the few potions Harry did well in class, it was of no
really consequence. Since both the assignment marks and 
the class marks are meaningless, it's hard for me to 
assign substantial meaning to Snape's actions. On a 
smaller scale they were petty, mean, vindictive, and just
plain not nice, they hardly constitute abuse.

Just a thought.

Steve/bboyminn