[HPforGrownups] Talent, skill, knowledge, power (was Snape's Methods)

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 163446

Snape's Witch's reply:
>  But for me the best argument that he does indeed teach his improvements is 
> what happens to Hermione in the N.E.W.T.'s class.  Until that year she had been 
> his best student, but now when she follows the book's instructions she doesn't 
> do as well as Harry using the Prince's improvements.  Could it be because Snape 
> had taught his own recipes?  IMO yes!

Bart:

Which is as good an excuse as any to bring up a subject I have been meaning to bring up. In many subjects, how well you do is based on 4 factors, where having an excess in one or more can, up to a point, make up for deficiencies in the other factors. These are talent, skill, knowledge, and power. Talent you are born with. It is your potential for doing well in the subject, and not much can change it one way or the other, although it can be augmented. Skill is wholly learned. It is the physical and mental movements attached to the subject. Practice can increase skill. Knowledge is how much you know about the subject, and is limited by learning ability and self-discipline. Power depends on the subject, but it is the degree of amplitude (and, if applicable, speed) you can put into the subject. For example, I am quite talented on the piano, and have a decent amount of knowledge about musical theory, but I don't have the self-discipline to build up my skills. A lot of people think I'm an excellent piano player, when, in fact, I'm faking it all the way. A real piano player can tell this immediately. In other cases, knowledge and skill can make up for a lack of talent and power. I never was a terribly athletic person, but I lived in Europe for a while as a youth, and had to play soccer with kids who had practically been born with soccer balls at their feet. When I came back to the United States (soccer not being very popular at the time), although somewhat deficient in other sports, I played rings around even some of the best athletes in my class in soccer. Although I didn't have talent or power, I had a LOT more skill than they had. In arm wrestling, I have talent and skill, but very little power. Yet, when going agaisnt men built like professional athletes, often to the amusement of the onlookers. Yet, even when I have lost, many of them have told the onlookers, "He's GOOD." However, when there is no talent at all, sometimes all the other factors do no good. Consider the moviemaker Ed Wood, who, in spite of incredible dedication, hard work, practicing his skills, etc. is mainly remembered as the worst moviemaker of all time, because he had no talent whatsoever (Tim Burton made a movie in tribute to him). 

Now, let's look at these factors in the WW. Dumbledore, if he does not have all 4, has clearly made others believe that he does. Others are not as gifted and/or dedicated. Fred & George clearly have much talent (their magical inventions show that). They lack a certain amount of self-discipline, in that they won't learn what they don't want to learn. And there are hints that they augment their power by combining theirs together. Hermione has a certain amount of talent, but it's mainly augmented by a high degree of skill and knowledge. She has trouble even understanding the talent component; hence her "stick to the book" mentality, looking down at Fred and George's inventions, or Harry's use of the HBP methods. Voldemort clearly has much power and talent. Maybe a little too much. My own experience with piano has shown me that having a lot of talent can actually block one's gaining of skill, because of the discipline learning something the hard way that you can already do, even if you know that doing it will, eventually, enable you to surpass what you do. It's hard to put my finger on it, but, just based on my own experience, Tommy boy seems to, given an easy way and a hard way of doing things, like to take the easy way. This is masked by the fact that what is easy to him can be quite difficult to others. His disdain for Dumbledore's advice on the power of love is an indication of this sort of attitude. 

And Harry. Let's look at Harry. Talent? Certainly, he has talents in certain areas. He can think on his feet, and, once he learns something, he LEARNS it. Power? Certainly. Fighting off dementors at his age is considered to be impressive to the OWL testers; with no training fighting off the Imperious Curse, and his ability to even occasionally get past Snape's defenses (considering that Voldemort doesn't get past Snape's defenses; admittedly, Snape is more prepared for Voldemort than Harry; an expert fencer can be hit by an amateur, simply because the amateur will do something so stupid that the expert never expects it). But it has its price; if Harry does not want to learn something, he will refuse to learn it (such as History of Magic and Divination). And it seems that the only thing he practices with full fervor is Quidditch, which, quite frankly, is in many, if not most, ways, counter-productive. He probably would not have made it through his OWLS had Hermione not been helping him every step of the way through school. Consider how he breaks faith with Dumbledore when Dumbledore asks him to do a task which is too boring for his tastes (like learning Occlumancy or getting the information from Slugworth). 

That's one reason why I still believe that, in his last confrontation with Professor Snape, Professor Snape was doing the best he could to HELP Harry. In another series of novels, Wildcards, the best friend of one of the most powerful heroes does the hero a major favor by beating the crap out of him. He was pointing out that, in spite of his power, he had major weaknesses that could be easily exploited. In the case of HBP, Snape was showing Harry exactly where he weaknesses lay, saying, for the most part, "You can't even challenge ME! How do you expect to stand up to Voldemort?" Let's hope that, one way or the other, Harry finally accepts Snape's instruction. 

Bart