Scary Teachers - Good Teachers (was: Re: Hagrid and Snape...)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 152888

Alla wrote:
<snip> Mcgonagall does not tell Neville that he needs to change
anything in him, she does not tell him that he is clumsy idiot, or
moronic, but that his work IS good, except he lacks confidence. 
> 
> I don't know how explain it better, but after this praise my 
confidence would go up. <snip>

Carol responds:
Would it really? Evidently we have a different idea of what
constitutes praise. Encouragement, possibly, but I don't see how 
publicly calling attention to his fear of failure can be considered
praise.

For me the words "Yes, you, too, Longbottom" imply that Neville is at
the bottom of the class, or at least the bottom of the Gryffindors,
and knows it. (*Even* Neville can pass the OWL if he makes the effort,
she seems to be saying, which is essentially what Snape is saying as
well.) And "Nothing wrong with your work *except* a lack of
confidence" implies that something *is* wrong with his work. His "sad
little disbelieving noise" (OoP Am. ed. 257) suggests that he expects
to fail, not the result that someone whose work in the class has been
good would anticipate. (He doesn't expect to fail the Herbology OWL,
IIRC.) Certainly he lacks confidence, as McGonagall says, but it's
unclear whether that lack of confidence is the cause or the effect of
his apparently dismal performance in the class. I would guess that one
reinforces the other.

To move from inference to canon, I don't think that the admittedly
limited canon supports your claim that Neville's work in
Transfiguration is good. In GoF, McGonagall humiliates him in front of
the other Gryffindors by reminding him of an already embarrassing mistake:

"'Longbottom, kindly do *not* reveal that you can't even perform a
simple Switching Spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang!' Professor
McGonagall barked at the end of one particularly difficult lesson,
during which Neville had accidentally transplanted his own ears onto a
cactus" (GoF Am. ed. 256-57, emphasis in original).

Not exactly an indication of good work in her class, and I would argue
that "can't *even* perform a *simple* switching spell" does imply that
she considers him clumsy and inept. At any rate, I can't see those
words, spoken in front of his fellow Gryffindors, as doing anything to
boost his self-confidence. They seem to me to reflect the same kind of
frustration that Snape expresses when Neville melts yet another
cauldron. Ineptitude in either subject can have dangerous
consequences, and while humiliating Neville is certainly not the way
to improve his performance, his repeated mistakes in both classes
would try the patience of a saint.

I do think that McGonagall was trying to be kind when she talked about
his lack of confidence, but I don't think that her remark on that
occasion or her treatment of Neville in general is likely to boost his
self-esteem. Nor do I think that he does any better in her classes
than in Snape's based on the available canon. He scrapes an Acceptable
on his Transfiguration OWL (and evidently on his Potions OWL as well)
in the absence of his teacher(s), but his forgetfulness, clumsiness,
and inattentiveness, along with his lack of self-confidence, appear to
be exacerbated by stern teachers who make their scorn for incompetence
clear, whether that teacher is Snape or McGonagall. IOW, McGonagall
may not be Neville's Boggart in PoA, but she'd probably be third in
line behind Snape and Gran. (Post-OoP, I rather think he has a more
realistic Boggart, Bellatrix Lestrange, who's a great deal scarier
than Potions master!Snape, but that's irrelevant here.)

BTW, since Transfiguration, unlike Potions, CoMC, and Herbology,
appears to be a one-House class, we never see how McGonagall teaches
students from other Houses. (All of her interactions with Draco, for
example, are outside the classroom.) We have no idea how she deals
with incompetence on the part of, say, Crabbe and Goyle or whether she
awards points to Slytherins or Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs who perform
well in her classes. All we know is that she gives Draco detention
after he fails to turn in his homework twice in a row (certainly a
reasonable punishment but not indicative of her classroom interactions
with him or other Slytherins). Certainly she favors her own House (as
does Snape), but we don't see how or whether this favoritism manifests
itself in the classroom because we only see her interacting with
students from her own House.

IMO, the only teacher at Hogwarts who is both highly competent and
impartial without being in the least fluffy (or concerned about
students' "feelings" when they ask questions that she believes to be
none of their business) is Professor Grubbly-Plank, and she's only a
substitute. A sad state of affairs, perhaps, but hardly unexpected
considering the total absence of teacher training in the WW.

Carol, wondering how McGonagall would have reacted if it had been
Draco who had caught the Remembrall in front of her window in SS/PS,
or if Harry had been in a different House ("Professor Flitwick, I've
found you a new Seeker!")