Hermione and Snape WAS:Re: Scary Teachers - Good Teachers.

[leslie41]

No: HPFGUIDX 152868


> Marion:
> 
> Hermione soooo irritates me. I don't think she's particularly 
> bright either. 

Then you'd be in an extreme minority!    

> I'm a member of Mensa, and my experience (and those of my fellow 
> clubmembers) is that really intelligent children either do their 
> own quiet thing or 'play dumb' to fit in the crowd. 

Leslie41:
As a college professor (though I must admit I've never been 
interested in joining mensa), I can say that I've seen my share of 
Hermiones who neither play dumb or keep to themselves.  The smartest 
student I ever had in 20 years is just like Hermione.  Knows 
everything, hand up all the time.  "The brightest witch of her age," 
so to speak.  

The danger with a Hermione, which Snape I think realizes, is that 
such a student has the ability to suck the life from the rest of the 
class.  He may hate the fact that she's a "know-it-all" (Snape as 
student actually fits your mensa experience more than Hermione), but 
his apparent "meanness" in refusing to call on her, and discouraging 
her from being so eager all the time, is to give the other students a 
chance to participate and learn as well.

Anyone who's ever been in front of a classroom knows that the 
Hermiones of the world are a danger to the rest of the students.  Not 
physically, of course, but mentally.  The other students, knowing 
there is a Hermione in the class who will always have the answer, can 
grow either discouraged, or lazy, or both.  Potentially, the class 
can degenerate into a conversation between the teacher and that one 
student, and great, great pains must be taken to avoid that 
happening. Effectively controlling that student, and redistributing 
the attention over the entirety of the class, is a constant and 
difficult task.

Snape's cruellest act towards any of the students, I would assert, is 
his remark to Hermione about her beaverish teeth.  He does this in 
front of the whole class, specifically to humiliate her.  

I certainly would never do such a thing, but one can see how letting 
the air out of a Hermione, undermining her overbearing confidence in 
the classroom, could be a good thing for the class as a whole, 
especially after years of her wanting to be the center of attention.  

I like Hermione a lot, but she would be a very frustrating student to 
teach.