They had been told by the teacher that they needed to talk about their son's achievements in school so far. Having already expected this, they had followed the offer. What however had surprised them were the conclusions the teacher had come to. They had not thought of the problem having such roots.
"Yes. Your son is quite intelligent, no doubt about that, but his intelligence manifests itself in a way that is not very practical for the theoretical schoolwork," the teacher explained. "Ron is a good student when it comes to practical things, but topics like learning math he quickly gets bored with. He did not take learning how to read as serious as he should have until being shown a comic book by another student, which he of course couldn't read yet."
Truth to be told, she found the Weasley parents to be a bit odd, especially the father. They both had a somewhat eccentric fashion taste - though that was nothing to three years ago, when their twins had started school. They were nice people, but felt a bit out of place in this environment. They also didn't seem comfortable with being here.
She then continued. "Ron mentioned his oldest brother is teaching him chess and I humored him. Considering how well he plays for a six-year old, that was the moment where I truly understood the real problem, and it's not his intelligence at all."
"What do you suggest we do to give him proper motivation to apply himself? My usual ways have been rather fruitless. Scolding Ron didn't seem to impress him too much," Molly said, remembering the way Ron's eyes glazed over when she did so.
"I would suggest the carrot and stick approach." Seeing blank looks, the teacher felt she needed to explain. "Tell Ron that for good results in school, he gets something he likes, while for bad results he has to do something he dislikes. Then, once that does show the intended results, slowly make reward and punishment rarer, until he doesn't need them anymore."
"So you mean we motivate him to show the correct behavior until he does it on his own?" Mr. Weasley asked, barely managing to keep down his curiosity about all the things he'd seen this day so far.
The teacher knew they had understood what she was trying to explain. "Basically, yes. Children like him don't react well to being forced to do something they don't like. So you need to give him a good reason why he should apply himself on his own accord."
Mrs. Weasley already got several ideas of things Ron liked and disliked. Hopefully, it would work as intended, otherwise she was out of ideas.
o
Sitting in the garden under the shade of a tree, Hermione Granger was trying to read the storybook that would be used next school year for reading competence. It was not that she had trouble reading the book - if anything it was a bit too easy for her - but that she had difficulties to concentrate. That was, because many things were going through her young mind.
Finally setting the book aside, the girl allowed her unhappiness to show itself.
On one hand, school was great as she was learning a lot. Learning how to read had opened up a completely new world to her in books. Books were filled with many interesting things she had not imagined, opening her eyes to a much wider world. The other things she was learning at school also were interesting and came easy to her. That however also was where her problems started.
The other students had started to dislike her due to her being so smart. She had seen their jealous looks whenever she did something easily while they needed more time for the same task, or whenever she answered a question first and then would get praised by the teacher. That dislike in turn allowed them to find other things about her they didn't like, such as her very bushy hair or the overbite she was starting to develop due to her beginning permanent dentition.
This is unfair! They don't like me only because I have an easier time learning than they do! she pouted silently.
On the other hand, she felt hurt that the other students were avoiding her or making fun of her. After all, she still was a six-year old girl and wanted to fit in. However, besides these troubles, she felt it difficult to understand the other girls. They giggled a lot and were so gaga about things like talking ponies or sticker books. She simply felt no real attraction to such things, though her parents seemed a bit concerned about it.
Why are the other girls even liking these things? she wondered, not seeing the appeal.
She felt a bit detached from the other students, like there was an invisible wall between them, which had nothing to do with them disliking her smarts. It was incredibly frustrating for the girl, especially as she watched the friendships formed between the other students. That was something she wanted as well, but had no idea how to get.
Watching their daughter from the open terrace doors, Ian and Jean Granger again felt their concern rise.
"She looks unhappy," Ian said, feeling he had failed their daughter in some way.
"You remember what her teacher told us about how Hermione could have easily skipped a grade? And then how she told us the reason why she didn't even entertain the idea of mentioning this to the administration?" Jean asked her husband.
He grimaced a bit. "Yes, the way she laid it out was quite direct. If Hermione already has such problems in her actual age group, how would the older students react to suddenly have a young 'genius' in their class? That would end very badly."
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