I feel like a big part of the fandom lets Snape off way to easily.

On your point about him as a teacher: writing instructions on the board doesn't make you a good teacher. It makes you an average teacher, that's like bare minimum teaching. They're in grade school, they need an active and involved instructor not just reading a blackboard, they're children not college students. Also that's terrible teaching even for college. He made classes a miserable experience for most students, and berated them at every turn. He punished students when they made mistakes instead of helping them learn. He was going to make Neville feed his toad a deadly potion because he messed up because he was never able to learn in these conditions. Neville wasn't an idiot, he was a powerful wizard once he gained confidence. The reason he was so bad at potions was BECAUSE of Snape. And it's not just Neville, a lot of Snape's students had a hard time in his class. If a lot of students are failing or having a hard time, you're a bad teacher. Creating a proper learning environment is honestly more important in teaching than writing the textbook on the board.

/r/harrypotter Thread Parent