The bashing thing: That's Dumbledore-hate again, and I made a bigger deal of it there than I meant to.
I always felt it was a little insensitive to go with "Sirius died bravely, but you know, he was sort of a jerk," rather than being a Good, Decent Teacher and saying "Here's a hanky, get some sleep, I'll arrange an OWL retest if you decide you're up to it, so don't worry."
But ANYway ...
I tend to agree with you that Snape is a good guy -- in a far more "good" way than Dumbledore. He acts wrongly and rashly with little knowledge of the consequences; Dumbledore acts wrongly with full knowledge. What kind of teacher doesn't have anyone keep watch on a tree behind which a dangerous beast is confined? What kind of teacher is so irresponsible that he never even warns his staff about behaving vindictively toward select students? What kind of teacher does not hire a freakin' school psychiatrist for Harry, Severus, Remus, Tom? What kind of teacher thinks eleven-year-olds chasing unicorn-killing monsters into normally forbidden areas is an acceptable form of detention? What kind of teacher hires Horace Slughorn, let alone allows him to talk to students about his "collection"? Or allows students to be closeted alone with members of staff in classrooms and offices, totally unsupervised, at night, regardless of age?
And most relevant to this discussion, what kind of teacher doesn't keep a closer eye on Tom? Severus Snape would have breathed down that kid's neck. Which makes him, in my opinion, a far more responsible educator.
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I always felt it was a little insensitive to go with "Sirius died bravely, but you know, he was sort of a jerk," rather than being a Good, Decent Teacher and saying "Here's a hanky, get some sleep, I'll arrange an OWL retest if you decide you're up to it, so don't worry."
But ANYway ...
I tend to agree with you that Snape is a good guy -- in a far more "good" way than Dumbledore. He acts wrongly and rashly with little knowledge of the consequences; Dumbledore acts wrongly with full knowledge. What kind of teacher doesn't have anyone keep watch on a tree behind which a dangerous beast is confined?
What kind of teacher is so irresponsible that he never even warns his staff about behaving vindictively toward select students?
What kind of teacher does not hire a freakin' school psychiatrist for Harry, Severus, Remus, Tom?
What kind of teacher thinks eleven-year-olds chasing unicorn-killing monsters into normally forbidden areas is an acceptable form of detention?
What kind of teacher hires Horace Slughorn, let alone allows him to talk to students about his "collection"? Or allows students to be closeted alone with members of staff in classrooms and offices, totally unsupervised, at night, regardless of age?
And most relevant to this discussion, what kind of teacher doesn't keep a closer eye on Tom? Severus Snape would have breathed down that kid's neck. Which makes him, in my opinion, a far more responsible educator.