Snape as Neville's teacher (was:Re: Snape as Noble teacher...)

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 168378

Dana:
> It is interesting you bring up Crabbe and Goyle because we do not 
see Snape bullying them while they are goons, as you state here, now 
do we? They both do not make it to NEWT level potions either. So if 
Snape is not playing favoritism and he does his bullying because it 
is so effective (and noble) why don't we ever see him have a go at 
either of them.

Ceridwen:
There are at least two possible reasons for this, and I suspect I 
only see two because I really haven't thought about it.  One, of 
course, is that Snape doesn't have a go at either of them.  The 
second is that Harry either doesn't notice, having his hands full on 
the Gryffindor side of the room with his own potions, or he doesn't 
care to note it.

It is interesting that I have never gotten the impression that Crabbe 
or Goyle are good at Potions, or much of anything else besides 
decorating Draco Malfoy.  They don't seem to be overtly portrayed as 
idiots in the books before HBP.  Does anyone else think Crabbe and 
Goyle are obviously poor students?  Or is that just me?

Dana:
> I find your reaction very typical because now it has suddenly 
nothing to do with Snape bullying Neville that Neville was bad in 
potions, no it was because Neville was just bad at the subject. 
Whatever might be the case we certainly do not see Neville perform 
good because of Snape's bullying.

Ceridwen:
The incidents people bring up that support their view of bullying, I 
don't see as bullying.  Neville is singled out when he makes a 
mistake.  His toad is used to test his own potion, which by its color 
etc. is acceptable.  He melts someone else's cauldron and covers 
other students with boils and is referred to as an idiot.

You may find it typical, but the question I asked still remains.  Why 
does everyone expect Neville to pass Potions with a different 
teacher?  Even an aptitude for Herbology doesn't ensure an aptitude 
with Potions.  Two of my highest marks were for Astronomy, which goes 
hand in hand with Math.  I still failed Math.

And, my teachers, from second grade (age 6-7) on up, have been good.  
I earned good marks in all of my subjects, except for Math.  The 
teaching style was always the same in each subject, because all 
subjects were taught by the same teacher in lower years.  My poor 
last three Math teachers are lovely people who stay after class to 
help students who are having trouble, and yes, I do avail myself of 
this.

Maybe I'm just seeing Neville's troubles with Potions through the 
light of my own major difficulties in a single subject.  Neville 
seems anxious and overwhelmed.  He seems as if he's always trying to 
catch up with the rest of the class, which is exactly the way I feel 
in Math.  One reason we all seem to have at least slightly different 
impressions of the books, and of the characters, is what we bring to 
them.  This is what I bring to Neville's part in the story.

Ceridwen.