Apropos of nothing - a random HP thought.

[ridicully]

Where does half the fandom get the impression that Harry is cheating by using a book with notes in it?

They are allowed to use their book while brewing and are supposed to have read up on the potion they are preparing in class.
And in written tests, I doubt they are allowed to use their books anyway, so the notes won't be any help to him there.
The only difference I see between Harry and a Ravenclaw (in this instance) is that the Ravenclaw would have made the notes himself - and probably not in the book, but on a spare bit of paper.

Having better reference material is rarely considered cheating. No matter how much of an advantage it gives you.

Comments

[juju-bean.livejournal.com]

Ah, but it wasn't a better textbook, it was a marked up old book. It's pretty much like taking someone's old notes and using them for your own gain. Which wouldn't be a bad thing if you were just using them to build on what you already know or understand (like to clarify a point or something), but Harry was using it in place of having to use his own brain.

But if he'd read from the book with no notes in it, he would've been benefiting from somebody else's work - the author's.

Everyone has the same textbook and that puts them on an initial equal footing. It's what you do with it that makes you a good student or not. Neville and Hermione have the same textbook for five years, yet they each end up with different results. Hermione succeeds and Neville fails. If they're both using the exact same textbook, then obviously Hermione is doing something that Neville isn't.

It might all be a matter of interpretation. But in this case, Hermione is interpreting it on her own, and Harry is using someone else's hard work instead of doing his own.

[conuly]

Everyone has the same textbook and that puts them on an initial equal footing.

But despite what Hermione thinks, the point of a class is not to have a contest. It's not to have everyone start out equal. It's to learn. That's exactly what Harry did. He learned how to make potions. He learned the better way to make certain potions. He learned how to save Ron's life. That's what class is for.

[ryf.livejournal.com]

the point of a class is not to have a contest. It's not to have everyone start out equal. It's to learn.

Exactly.

He learned how to make potions.

I'd even argue that he actually knew beforehand, because those 'new ways at making certain potions' were also not very easy. They just got better results. So he must have learned a lot in Snape's class.