What Hermione thinks of Snape as a teacher (LONG)/ a bit of Hermione andTrelawne

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 148010

> Alla:
> 
> Can we conclude
> from this that teachers who teach Arithmancy and Ancient Rules for
> example are good teachers? I am not so sure.
> 
> Magpie:
> 
> We can conclude that any teacher Hermione doesn't criticize as a 
teacher 
> performs at a basic level that's okay with her.  Hermione doesn't 
like 
> having her time wasted in class.  She seems to consider Snape a 
perfectly 
> legitimate teacher.  She doesn't have to give passionate defenses 
of Snape 
> as a teacher (besides conversations about how X is an excellent 
teacher 
> being sort of contrived) 

Alla:

Such conversations could be contrived if they are badly written and 
not contrived if they are well written, IMO. As I said in my earlier 
posts for example I disagree with Hermione comparing Snape speech in 
DADA to Harry's, I see little similarities, if any, but if you are 
to argue that you agree with Hermione, doesn't such conversation 
seems like a very good way to show that Hermione likes Snape's 
teaching?

Besides, Hermione DOES criticize Snape's teaching skills, IMO of 
course. I would say it is written in a very not contrived way.

"Snape's never been like this with any of our other Defense against
the Dark Arts teachers, even if he did want the job," Harry said to
Hermione. "Why's he got it in for Lupin? D'you think this is all
because of the boggart?"
"I don't know," said Hermione pensively. "Bur I really hope
Professor Lupin gets better soon" –PoA, p.173

I don't know about you, but as I said in my earlier post it really 
seems to me that Hermione much prefers Remus to Snape as DADA 
teacher.


And another one, which I want to repeat.

"This was really unfair," said Hermione  consolingly, sitting the
down next to Harry and  helping herself to shepherd's pie. "Your
potion wasn't nearly as bad as Goyle's, when he put it in his flagon
the whole thing shattered and set his robes on fire"

..
"I did think he might be a bit better this year," said Hermione in a
disappointed voice. " I mean
you know
." She looked carefully
around; there were half a dozen empty seats on either side of them
and nobody was passing the table"
. Now he is in the Order and
everything." – OOP, p.235

Erm... I did think he might be a bit better this year - sounds like 
a criticism to me.



I am also saying that Hermione has very low threshold as to whom she 
is ready to learn from. Trelawney seems to me like an exception NOT 
a rule and really, I think that Hermione's mind indeed not well 
suited for Divination. No, that came out wrong, I think Hermione is 
can handle divination, but she convinced herself VERY early on in 
the series that Divination is not the branch of magic which is worth 
learning.

Here is an interesting quote from PS/SS.

"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was 
ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch 
you. Anyways, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like 
fortune-telling to me, and Professor Mcgonagall says that's a very 
imprecise branch of magic" - PS/SS, p.260.

THAT's curious. There is no Trelawney classes yet but Hermione 
already seems to make up her mind about "fortune-telling" or 
Divination.

I am going to make a wild guess here and I know there is no way to 
substantiate it, but I think that Hermione would not have liked 
Divination no matter who would have been teaching it.

I think Hermione cannot really spread her mind to the possibilities 
of imprecise branches of magic such as divination is yet. She calls 
Trelawney an old fraud in OOP. That could be, except we KNOW for 
sure that she is not a complete fraud, because two of her 
predictions were correct. So, can it be that she will turn out to 
not be fraud at all?

Does not Dumbledore say that he himself never took Divination in 
HBP? I could be wrong ( cannot find the quote), but isn't it 
possible that Dumbledore underestimated Trelawney skills?

JKR said (I think) that part of the reason she introduced Luna to 
the series was for her to be the opposite to Hermione.

I don't think that I am always enthusiastic about Luna's character, 
but it seems to me that Hermione DOES have something to learn from 
her.

JMO,

Alla