Is Snape so bad as a teacher?
This is a response to the January challenge on Snapedom. I was apprehensive about posting, because the situations I describe are real. But the two crimes against students I discuss (briefly) haven't been mentioned yet, so I took the plunge. The essay follows the cut - It's g rated, as usual, and fairly short - probably no more than 1,500 words.
Of course, everyone who's read any of my essays or stories knows that I don't think Severus Snape is a terrible teacher. On the contrary, I think he has the tools to be a very good one, though he certainly has issues and problems, and could stand to improve. When around certain students who 'push his buttons', he could stand to improve a lot. But -
It is true there are a few times (only a few) in the books when he is shown to be absolutely unprofessional. He's clearly got some emotional problems and I can see why some call him nasty. In spite of these drawbacks, it's equally clear that (1) he's prepared to keep his students safe. Someone - I forget who - compared Snape's prompt efficiency when dealing with accidents with Slughorn's dithering when Ron was poisoned. The contrast is remarkable. While Slughorn has an amiable, laissez-faire attitude, Severus Snape is always alert. Which brings me to point (2): Snape is aware of what is happening in his classroom. As anyone who has ever taught knows, that sort of awareness is a real skill - and a necessary one, in a place as dangerous as a potions lab. Also (3) he gives his students the tools to understand and learn the subjects he teaches. It's been argued that in Potions, all the kids do is follow recipes. If this is so, then Snape gives them the correct recipes (unlike Slughorn) and demands that they understand the nature of their ingredients and how they react. In both Potions and Defense, he is the only teacher we see who even begins to teach theory. Rowling, who is clearly neither a scientist nor an historian, doesn't understand or like theory herself. I do, and have liked teachers who expected me to understand *why* things work as they do. (4) Finally, his students learn. All of them, even Harry. Heck, even Neville.
And a word about his nastiness. I've gone into much greater detail in one of my essays, but, in their different ways, Harry, Hermione and Neville all antagonize him. It's his fault, as the adult, that he cannot understand where the kids are coming from and give them a little slack - but, on the (very rare) occasions when Harry, for example, manages to treat Snape like a human being, the man responds in kind.* He is sometimes petty; he is not usually aggressive - and he's not usually quite as unfair as some would like to argue. (There are, of course, exceptions. His deliberately breaking Harry's potion flask, and his remark about Hermione's teeth, are the most egregious examples I can think of, and I don't excuse them, though I can - to a degree - understand them.)
Still, he's not a great teacher, and it's a pity, because all the tools are there - knowledge, competence and passion for his subjects; concern for his students' safety; an expectation that they can and will learn; good classroom and time management, and so on.
I think all of us have run into worse teachers. I've just been rereading Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis's autobiography, and his description of "Oldie" the headmaster at his first boarding school, is absolutely chilling. If I'd come across a teacher like that, I would have been scarred for life. In my own and my friends' experience, I've run into two situations (in two graduate schools) in which teachers were highly unethical.
In one case, a teacher spent his time in the lectures telling his students how inferior the state where the University was located was; how much he preferred his home state; how awful the weather was; how bad the public schools were; and how much his daughter was suffering in them. This was a graduate school, and the students were paying for the privilege of hearing him talk. I don't think any of them learned anything about the subject in that class.
The second case - again, in graduate school - was even worse. A professor was in a liason with a student. The atmosphere in the whole department was poisonous, and at least one student had a nervous breakdown. This last brings me to a final real-life problem which is very serious and damaging, and which we never see from Severus Snape: sexual harassment. There are hints of it (IMHO) with Slughorn, which is one reason I was willing to believe John Granger's 'evil Slughorn' theory. As it turned out, the theory was incorrect. But we never see or hear of Snape doing anything as unethical as what the professors in those grad schools did. He doesn't waste his students' time; he has high expectations for them; and he tends to be (physically, at least) protective of them.
I have tended to see Snape as the warrior/guardian - not only of Harry, but of all the students in Hogwarts. Even after DH, this reading of his character still makes sense to me. Then what a purgatory it must have been, to be in the school trying to protect the students, and yet being able to do so little! Just another example of Rowling's cruelty to her character, and her deliberate attempt to diminish him.
I think it's a pity that, one way or another, Severus Snape was enslaved his whole life. He never got a chance, in canon, to grow up, get over himself, and become the person and teacher he could have been. The potential is definitely there.
But, even in canon, he is not terrible. I have known of worse in the real world.
Of course, everyone who's read any of my essays or stories knows that I don't think Severus Snape is a terrible teacher. On the contrary, I think he has the tools to be a very good one, though he certainly has issues and problems, and could stand to improve. When around certain students who 'push his buttons', he could stand to improve a lot. But -
It is true there are a few times (only a few) in the books when he is shown to be absolutely unprofessional. He's clearly got some emotional problems and I can see why some call him nasty. In spite of these drawbacks, it's equally clear that (1) he's prepared to keep his students safe. Someone - I forget who - compared Snape's prompt efficiency when dealing with accidents with Slughorn's dithering when Ron was poisoned. The contrast is remarkable. While Slughorn has an amiable, laissez-faire attitude, Severus Snape is always alert. Which brings me to point (2): Snape is aware of what is happening in his classroom. As anyone who has ever taught knows, that sort of awareness is a real skill - and a necessary one, in a place as dangerous as a potions lab. Also (3) he gives his students the tools to understand and learn the subjects he teaches. It's been argued that in Potions, all the kids do is follow recipes. If this is so, then Snape gives them the correct recipes (unlike Slughorn) and demands that they understand the nature of their ingredients and how they react. In both Potions and Defense, he is the only teacher we see who even begins to teach theory. Rowling, who is clearly neither a scientist nor an historian, doesn't understand or like theory herself. I do, and have liked teachers who expected me to understand *why* things work as they do. (4) Finally, his students learn. All of them, even Harry. Heck, even Neville.
And a word about his nastiness. I've gone into much greater detail in one of my essays, but, in their different ways, Harry, Hermione and Neville all antagonize him. It's his fault, as the adult, that he cannot understand where the kids are coming from and give them a little slack - but, on the (very rare) occasions when Harry, for example, manages to treat Snape like a human being, the man responds in kind.* He is sometimes petty; he is not usually aggressive - and he's not usually quite as unfair as some would like to argue. (There are, of course, exceptions. His deliberately breaking Harry's potion flask, and his remark about Hermione's teeth, are the most egregious examples I can think of, and I don't excuse them, though I can - to a degree - understand them.)
Still, he's not a great teacher, and it's a pity, because all the tools are there - knowledge, competence and passion for his subjects; concern for his students' safety; an expectation that they can and will learn; good classroom and time management, and so on.
I think all of us have run into worse teachers. I've just been rereading Surprised by Joy, C.S. Lewis's autobiography, and his description of "Oldie" the headmaster at his first boarding school, is absolutely chilling. If I'd come across a teacher like that, I would have been scarred for life. In my own and my friends' experience, I've run into two situations (in two graduate schools) in which teachers were highly unethical.
In one case, a teacher spent his time in the lectures telling his students how inferior the state where the University was located was; how much he preferred his home state; how awful the weather was; how bad the public schools were; and how much his daughter was suffering in them. This was a graduate school, and the students were paying for the privilege of hearing him talk. I don't think any of them learned anything about the subject in that class.
The second case - again, in graduate school - was even worse. A professor was in a liason with a student. The atmosphere in the whole department was poisonous, and at least one student had a nervous breakdown. This last brings me to a final real-life problem which is very serious and damaging, and which we never see from Severus Snape: sexual harassment. There are hints of it (IMHO) with Slughorn, which is one reason I was willing to believe John Granger's 'evil Slughorn' theory. As it turned out, the theory was incorrect. But we never see or hear of Snape doing anything as unethical as what the professors in those grad schools did. He doesn't waste his students' time; he has high expectations for them; and he tends to be (physically, at least) protective of them.
I have tended to see Snape as the warrior/guardian - not only of Harry, but of all the students in Hogwarts. Even after DH, this reading of his character still makes sense to me. Then what a purgatory it must have been, to be in the school trying to protect the students, and yet being able to do so little! Just another example of Rowling's cruelty to her character, and her deliberate attempt to diminish him.
I think it's a pity that, one way or another, Severus Snape was enslaved his whole life. He never got a chance, in canon, to grow up, get over himself, and become the person and teacher he could have been. The potential is definitely there.
But, even in canon, he is not terrible. I have known of worse in the real world.