On lying and cheating

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165330

bboyminn wrote:
>
> I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but Geoff has just
given me the perfect analogy to describe that is happening - Home
Economics or Bachelor Living (for guys). (What do you call it in Britain?)
>
> You are in your cooking class and the teacher says tomorrow we are
all going to bake a chocolate cake. You bring in you mother's best
favorite chocolate cake recipe, and everyone else uses the recipe in
the textbook. Is that cheating?
>
> I don't think so, and cooking recipes are the perfect analogy
because, as Geoff points out, he could have a well-know well-respected
tried-and-true recipe for 'chocolate cake' and he would probably still
muck it up.
>
> The recipe itself is not as critical as having an intuitive sense of
how the ingredients go together. Even a simply recipe can be ruined of
you stir too much or too little. So, the instinct and understanding
are about having the sense to know when you have stirred just enough.
Having the right recipe is no guarantee of success. Having a good
instinct for applying the recipe, is a much greater predictor of
success. So, that is what Potions Class is, it is for developing a
good instinct for how to apply recipes. <snip>

Carol responds:
But Harry doesn't *have* that "intuitive sense" or he'd have figured
out the improvements on his own. Snape (the HBP) *does* have it. Harry
is just following Teen!Snape's directions, not discovering anything
for himself.

You're still missing the main point, which is that *Harry is receiving
credit for the HBP's research and creativity.* That he himself doesn't
have that creativity is clear from the fact that he returns to his
old, inferior results after he hides the book and from his
determination to keep Snape from revealing to Slughorn the source of
his supposed brilliance.

I think you're determined to credit Harry with a natural aptitude he
doesn't have, exactly as Slughorn did. Somehow, I don't think we're
going to see Potions-genius!Harry brewing Wolfbane Potion for Lupin or
concocting Veritaserum to use on Snape in DH, much less improving on
either of the formlas.

And Potions is not a cooking class. It's more like chemistry, and
getting a potion wrong can have disastrous results ranging from melted
cauldrons and explosions to poisonous fumes. One scientist using
another's findings is very different from a cook using another's
recipe--but even chef's protect their cooking secrets. And no Home Ec
teacher would let a kid bring a recipe from home if the assignment was
to bake the chocolate cake using the recipe on page 272. That would
only be permissible if the assignment was to use any available recipe.

Carol, wondering why she's still arguing when it's obviously wasted effort