Is Hermione Supposed to be a Genius?

[jjpandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 94546

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Shaun Hately" <drednort at a...> 
wrote:
> 
> But more significant to her intelligence - well, here's the thing -
 
> we actually have a reasonable facsimile of the type of question 
> asked on many intelligence tests appearing in the text. It's only 
> one question - but the way she solves it, really does suggest a 
> very high IQ.
> 
> Again, it's in Philosopher's Stone - it's the Bottle Puzzle. This 
> is a puzzle based on pure logic - not on learned information.
> 
> It's a fairly complex question - and Hermione is able to solve it -
 
> without any writing, so she's keeping the whole logical sequence 
in 
> her head, as she manipulates it, and solves it - it appears in a 
> couple of minutes, but we don't know that - and she doesn't just 
> solve it - she is so *sure* of her solution, so confident she has 
> got it, she has no hesitation her life and those of her friends on 
> her answers. She is *positive* of her answers.
> 
> To solve that complexity of puzzle in minutes at the age of 11 or 
> 12, in your head, with that level of confidence in your answer - 
> that is seriously unusual. Especially under stress. It's 
> indicative, to me, that Hermione does have an exceptional IQ.
> 
> I obviously can't assess it precisely - but I wouldn't be 
surprised 
> at something over the 150 level, with that type of performance.
> 
> 
> Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
> Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
> (ISTJ)       | drednort at a... | ICQ: 6898200 
> "You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
> thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
> facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
> uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
> need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
> Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia


JJPandy replied:
    Thank you, Shaun, for reminding everyone of a great example of 
Hermione's intelligence being applied in a stressful situation.  I 
have always thought it was a shame that the logic puzzle was cut 
from the story when the movie was made. After all, Ron got to keep 
his moment of glory with the chess match, so why was Hermione short-
changed in the movie?  I guess the directors thought that the 
Devil's Snare scene was adequate for showcasing Hermione's memory 
for class material.  
    Hermione is intelligent because, not only does she have a gift 
for understanding and retaining information, she does not let that 
gift go to waste.  In my experience of teaching students at the 
middle school level (the grade level of HRH in the first three 
books), I have never taught a student who worked as hard as Hermione 
does to succeed in school.  If only all students would want to read 
as much as Hermione!

Sincerely,
JJPandy (back after a long stretch of just lurking in the shadows)