[HPforGrownups] Hermione and Snape WAS:Re: Scary Teachers - Good Teachers.

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 152900

On 25 May 2006 at 10:04, Marion Ros wrote:

> Oh, hear! Hear!
> 
> Hermione soooo irritates me. I don't think she's particularly bright either. 
> 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. I'm all for more attention to the 
> bright child (raise the bar high!) but that's because they generally don't 
> *demand* time while they do need it. Children like Hermione, whose only aim 
> in life seems to be to impress adults (and what *is* her thing with 
> faillure? I'd like to speak with her parents. Amazing too that she often ops 
> to spend holidays away from them too, but I digress), children like Hermione 
> *needs* to be slapped down occasionally. They can take it (they wouldn't be 
> such a gloryhound "look-at-me" irritating little know-it-alls if they were 
> fragile little butterflies, would they?)
> Snape is *good* for her.
> Although I fear that miss Granger has too thick a skin to ever *learn* from 
> the experience.

Hi Marion,

I'm afraid I really have to disagree with you.

I am also a Mensan - and more than a Mensan (my IQ is in the 'profoundly gifted' range -I'm 
not boasting, but it's a matter of public record and it's relevant to this discussion). I have 
worked with gifted children for over a decade. I have had articles published on giftedness, I 
have written a chapter of a book on giftedness, I have been interviewed by one of Australia's 
major newspapers on giftedness, I've run seminars on issues related to giftedness for Gifted 
Resources in Australia at the Centre for the Exceptional Learner, and I am certified as a 
teacher of gifted children (though until I get my Education degree at the end of this year, I 
can't actually use that certification to teach - it stacks on top of a degree). In short, I know 
quite a bit about gifted children.

And I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Hermione is a gifted child. Probably an 
exceptionally gifted or profoundly gifted child (IQ 160 minimum). And I'm not the only person 
who thinks so. A lot of experts on gifted children believe Hermione is a clear example of a 
gifted child.

It is true that a significant number of gifted children are quiet and unassuming and a 
significant number also do 'play dumb' in order to fit in. Those are not uncommon 
characteristics of very bright children. But they are not universal characteristics. Not all gifted 
children fall into those patterns, by any means. It depends on the child's personality. It 
depends on the child's early school experiences. But there are plenty of highly intelligent 
children who are also high achievers. It's hard to say whether they are a majority or a minority 
of gifted children - because identifying the underachievers can be very difficult, and so it's 
hard to know how many there are - but the mere fact that Hermione doesn't play dumb and 
doesn't hide her light under a bushel, is certainly *not* an indication that she's not gifted.

Of the roughly 30 gifted children I have mentored over the last decade, 8 have fallen into the 
Hermione like category. It's a minority in my experience - but it's a significant minority.

As for Hermione's relationship with her parents... I have to say when I've seen gifted kids like 
Hermione - highly driven, extremely worried about failure and trying to avoid their parents... 
well, sometimes that's a sign that the parents push their child too much. But more often, in 
my experience, it's a sign the parents are trying to hold their child back. I don't mean the 
latter in a bad sense - most often when that happens, the parents are truly and sincerely 
interested in their child's welfare and are trying to contain the child *because* they believe the 
child is pushihng themselves too hard - and they may very well be correct about that. It's not 
particularly psychologically healthy to constantly expect yourself to be the best - perfectionism 
can be a real problem. But when you have a highly driven, highly gifted child, no matter how 
much their parents may be trying to do what is right for them, the kid may not see things that 
way.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if part of the reason for Hermione's estrangement from her 
parents is because she feels they are trying to hold her back. Trying to stop her from being 
the best. And they might very well be doing so. And they might have very good reason for 
doing so - but Hermione is very much the type to be very resistant to this.

Especially as, it's possible (and quite common for highly gifted children) she spent her early 
schooling wondering why she didn't fit in - and then suddenly she found a different world 
where she did.

I think Hogwarts may also be a factor in Hermione's actions. My own school experiences - 
well, until I was 12, I was quite desperately unhappy and didn't fit into my education - and I 
was one of those kids who hid what they could do, and dumbed down to some extent. At 13, I 
suddenly found myself at a very different school. For the first time I was studying things I 
didn't know before, and being pushed to learn at levels I didn't know before, in an 
environment where you had every opportunity to excel.

That is what Hermione has found at Hogwarts, I think.

And when a gifted child finds that niche - even the underachievers often turn into achievers 
overnight. Part of the reason so many gifted kids do dumb down is because of an 
inappropriate educational fit - for some of these kids (by no means all) the type of school 
environment we see at Hogwarts is exactly what they need - and it changes them.

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | 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