[HPforGrownups] Re: Teaching is not and never has been a popularity contest.

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 157933

On 5 Sep 2006 at 19:37, amiabledorsai wrote:

> AD:
> So, if being an ass is the best way to get through to Neville, we can
> conclude, from his performance against the Boggart and his "E" in
> Charms, that Lupin and Flitwick are even bigger bastards than Snape?

Shaun:

No, we can't.

There are a lot of different teaching styles, just as there are a lot of different learning styles. 
Whether a child learns well from a teacher is very often a matter of how well that teachers 
teaching style matches that child's learning style.

In the case of Snape and Neville, we certainly don't have a good match. Lupin does seem to 
have a reasonable match with Neville - I can't really say about Flitwick.

But just because Snape's teaching style doesn't match Neville's learning style doesn't mean 
that there's anything inherently wrong with Snape's teaching style - for exactly the same 
reason that there's nothing wrong with Neville's learning style. These things come in a 
continuum of valid syles (and yes, there can be invalid styles at the extremes).

A good teacher is able to modify their style to an extent - but normally only to an extent.

If a teachers style works for 95% of their students, there is a real problem for the 5% it 
doesn't work for, and nobody should deny that - but it doesn't make the style wrong.



Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia