Bad Writing? (was: JKR and the boys)

[Anthony]

No: HPFGUIDX 162979

Steve/bboy:
> 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.

Anthanielc:

Excellent points, Steve!  I never considered the fact that no-one ever
seems to really fail at Hogwarts.  What an interesting twist on our
real world educational systems.  I know quite a few students who wish
tests and classroom participation didn't matter.  Of course, in the
muggle world, students get standardized tests pretty much every year
and not one of them really have an impact on future employment.

Semantically, I'd argue that there is very little Snape does that is
of "no real consequence," but educationally speaking you are correct
in this case.  The ire it stirred up in Harry is quite another matter,
of course.