Hermione Syndrome: An extreme variation of "teacher's pet" characterized by seven particular symptoms, associated with academic distinction and an impatience with ignorance. It affects about one in 20 individuals, all genders equally, so there will probably be at least one student in every classroom with particularly severe Hermione Syndrome. If you don't know this student, you might be this student, so take a good look at the symptoms below.
Probably the most common symptom of Hermione Syndrome is the apparent, impulsive need to answer every single question the teacher might pose to the class, even if it's rhetorical.
A student with Hermione Syndrome will raise his hand with so much enthusiasm and vigor that a spectator might wonder if he alternates arms so as to avoid lopsided muscles and to maximize endurance, or if he trains one arm to be the fastest and first hand in the air when the teacher looks for answers. This is a topic of research among Hermione Syndrome experts.
If the teacher says, "Let's give someone else a chance," after the student answers many times in a row, she may take on this expression.
She's impatient and wants the class to move forward and get to the next topic of discussion, and she wants to show that she already understands the material so that they can move on. In the meantime, a student with Hermione Syndrome will hold this look of boredom and dejection as her only expression.
That is until someone says something that is so wrong the student with Hermione Syndrome reacts as though physically hurt.
Besides an impatience with slow classes, a student with Hermione Syndrome is at high risk of feeling personally attacked by an answer that is way off-base since he likely could have provided a succinct and accurate explanation given the chance. Although his reaction to wrongness may be extreme and visible, researchers advise teachers not to engage until there is absolutely no chance of other students answering the question, possibly after a few hints are given.
In the case of student-student interactions, a person with Hermione Syndrome will quickly correct any lapse in accuracy.
Some students may take offense to their choice of words, or tone or facial expression ... likely the entire attitude. Experts assure us that the student with Hermione Syndrome is not actively trying to be rude, but instead is trying to find the fastest and most efficient way to express to his peers why their answer is wrong and his answer is right. The message usually gets across but isn't received well.
If she can't correct the person directly, a person with Hermione Syndrome will make sure everyone else knows that someone was wrong.
If she doesn't correct someone, she would feel like a bystander, and wouldn't want everyone to think that this "idiot" is actually right. There's no chance of that when someone with Hermione Syndrome is around.
A person with Hermione Syndrome has to be super-focused to stay on top of his game.
He'll read a new book instead of attending a random pep rally or sports event, expanding both his vocabulary and trivia repository. And he might have some serious trouble understanding what's so great about these events when they just seem noisy and rambunctious and frankly like a waste of time compared to learning or reading.
Someone with Hermione Syndrome faces a lot of push back, so she gets tough fast to stand up for herself and her friends.
No way she'll let some loathsome, foul-mouthed, evil little cockroach knock her, or her friends, down. Her threshold for stupidity only goes so far, and if someone steps off the edge, they can expect immediate retaliation.
Overall, someone with Hermione Syndrome is smart — like, ridiculously smart, and they can't hide it. But why should they? Knowledge and truth are some of their top priorities, beat out only by how much they care for their friends.
