The teacher picked on her again. Her discomfort in constantly being picked on was visible, but the teacher either ignored it or turned a blind eye towards her.
One Mississippi: The question was thrown at her. She doesn't catch it and asks the teacher to repeat the question. With exaggerated exasperation, the teacher repeats.
Two Mississippi: Her eyes are glued to the floor. The teacher hovers above her, like a bee circling a flower to see if there is any remaining nectar, impatiently tapping her foot without a constant beat. The teacher adjusts her glasses to position them below the bench of her nose and looks at the student from above the rim. "Well? Do you know?"
Three Mississippi: Her mind wanders. She thinks about the first time the teacher picked on her and how everybody laughed at her for answering incorrectly. She wishes she was someplace where “quiet” was valued and practiced.
Four Mississippi- She takes more time looking at the intriguing white floor before she finally answers.
Five Mississippi- Everyone's laughing and the teacher looks like she could bang her own head repeatedly on the wall. The student slides deeper into the chair, wishing she was invisible and wonders why the teacher constantly picks on her even though she is a smart but quiet child afraid of attention.
Research shows that this event is not an anomaly. In fact, you may be surprised to find that this happens often, but we’re too caught up in ourselves to really understand why. About 1/3-1/2 of the worlds population is made up of introverts. The oxford dictionary defines an introvert as “A person predominantly concerned with their own thoughts and feelings rather than with external things.”
So why do teachers pick on the quiet but smart kids? Many people often confuse introversion with shyness. In fact, being shy has nothing to do with being an introvert. When questioned, 7/22 grade 8 students answered or included “shy” as part of their definition of introverts. Susan Cain, a very educated professor in this branch of psychology says that “Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that aren’t over-simulating. Shyness is inherently painful. Introversion is not.”
While extroverts tend to gain energy when being in the spotlight, introverts recharge from solitude and feel drained when in the spotlight. It is easy to think that those who move or prefer fame are extroverts, but that doesn’t apply to everyone. In fact, many famous people / world changers, in whatever time frame, have been distinguished as introverts, some among them being Bill Gates, Mahatma Gandhi, and our very own Hermione Granger. Yet, we make such little room for introverts, and try to change their personality instead of appreciating and understanding it. “We are told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable. We can see ourselves as a nation of extroverts- which means we’ve lost sight of who we really are.” says susan cain
If the statistic proving how many introverts there are in the world surprised you, it’s probably because so many introverts are changing. Acting different in front of others. Shivani Dayal, a grade 8 student from UWC said that “Earlier, I used to be a complete introvert, but gradually have become a bit of an ambivert (a mix of introversion and extraversion) because of how much more the world prefers extroverts.” “This affects me because I always put on a smiley face even when i don’t want to be with [some people] because its what [those people] expect.” Mr Raisdana, an introvert says. “They call me depressed when i’m actually not.
Is this what we want our world to turn into? Monsters for not appreciating those angels around us? Confusing two morally very different topics, shyness and introversion? We need to spread the word about this topic. Parents, teachers, colleagues, bosses and friends make mistakes by only preferring the loud ones. What they don’t understand is that everyone is unique. Discrimination between black and whites would still be there if not for Rosa Parks. If her family disowned her for saying one of the most powerful words- "no" - if Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t help her, we wouldn’t be living in a world where discrimination between colors was significantly reduced. She was an introvert.
If Mahatma Gandhis act to gain independence for India wasn’t supported by the people, India might be under the rule of the Britishers right now. He was also an introvert.
If you are a parent or teacher that don’t know if your child is an introvert or your student is an introvert, watch this video by Susan Cain or read her book called “Quiet”. Parents, interact with your child more. Understand their problems in school. Look at their past and see if they have ever not liked to go to over-simulating places like homecoming. Teachers, stop picking on kids who might be quiet but are smart, because as Susan Cain said, “There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” . Find another way like using the internet to get the child to “talk.” And children. If you have a friend you know is introvert, don’t leave them alone saying that they are boring or shy. Many people believe that you can choose what path you want to take going forward, but we are giving introverts only one road called “extroversion is better.” Lets change that.
One Mississippi: The question was thrown at her. She doesn't catch it and asks the teacher to repeat the question. With exaggerated exasperation, the teacher repeats.
Two Mississippi: Her eyes are glued to the floor. The teacher hovers above her, like a bee circling a flower to see if there is any remaining nectar, impatiently tapping her foot without a constant beat. The teacher adjusts her glasses to position them below the bench of her nose and looks at the student from above the rim. "Well? Do you know?"
Three Mississippi: Her mind wanders. She thinks about the first time the teacher picked on her and how everybody laughed at her for answering incorrectly. She wishes she was someplace where “quiet” was valued and practiced.
Four Mississippi- She takes more time looking at the intriguing white floor before she finally answers.
Five Mississippi- Everyone's laughing and the teacher looks like she could bang her own head repeatedly on the wall. The student slides deeper into the chair, wishing she was invisible and wonders why the teacher constantly picks on her even though she is a smart but quiet child afraid of attention.
Research shows that this event is not an anomaly. In fact, you may be surprised to find that this happens often, but we’re too caught up in ourselves to really understand why. About 1/3-1/2 of the worlds population is made up of introverts. The oxford dictionary defines an introvert as “A person predominantly concerned with their own thoughts and feelings rather than with external things.”
So why do teachers pick on the quiet but smart kids? Many people often confuse introversion with shyness. In fact, being shy has nothing to do with being an introvert. When questioned, 7/22 grade 8 students answered or included “shy” as part of their definition of introverts. Susan Cain, a very educated professor in this branch of psychology says that “Shyness is the fear of social disapproval or humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that aren’t over-simulating. Shyness is inherently painful. Introversion is not.”
While extroverts tend to gain energy when being in the spotlight, introverts recharge from solitude and feel drained when in the spotlight. It is easy to think that those who move or prefer fame are extroverts, but that doesn’t apply to everyone. In fact, many famous people / world changers, in whatever time frame, have been distinguished as introverts, some among them being Bill Gates, Mahatma Gandhi, and our very own Hermione Granger. Yet, we make such little room for introverts, and try to change their personality instead of appreciating and understanding it. “We are told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable. We can see ourselves as a nation of extroverts- which means we’ve lost sight of who we really are.” says susan cain
If the statistic proving how many introverts there are in the world surprised you, it’s probably because so many introverts are changing. Acting different in front of others. Shivani Dayal, a grade 8 student from UWC said that “Earlier, I used to be a complete introvert, but gradually have become a bit of an ambivert (a mix of introversion and extraversion) because of how much more the world prefers extroverts.” “This affects me because I always put on a smiley face even when i don’t want to be with [some people] because its what [those people] expect.” Mr Raisdana, an introvert says. “They call me depressed when i’m actually not.
Is this what we want our world to turn into? Monsters for not appreciating those angels around us? Confusing two morally very different topics, shyness and introversion? We need to spread the word about this topic. Parents, teachers, colleagues, bosses and friends make mistakes by only preferring the loud ones. What they don’t understand is that everyone is unique. Discrimination between black and whites would still be there if not for Rosa Parks. If her family disowned her for saying one of the most powerful words- "no" - if Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t help her, we wouldn’t be living in a world where discrimination between colors was significantly reduced. She was an introvert.
If Mahatma Gandhis act to gain independence for India wasn’t supported by the people, India might be under the rule of the Britishers right now. He was also an introvert.
If you are a parent or teacher that don’t know if your child is an introvert or your student is an introvert, watch this video by Susan Cain or read her book called “Quiet”. Parents, interact with your child more. Understand their problems in school. Look at their past and see if they have ever not liked to go to over-simulating places like homecoming. Teachers, stop picking on kids who might be quiet but are smart, because as Susan Cain said, “There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” . Find another way like using the internet to get the child to “talk.” And children. If you have a friend you know is introvert, don’t leave them alone saying that they are boring or shy. Many people believe that you can choose what path you want to take going forward, but we are giving introverts only one road called “extroversion is better.” Lets change that.
Written By: Ananya
its great <3
ReplyDeleteI am an 8th grade teacher in Wisconsin, USA. My students are new to Investigative Journalism. They read and have responded to various articles you have written. Although we are not ready to blog individually, I would like to share their response with you:
ReplyDeleteAnanya,
We enjoyed your article. We liked the points you made in most of the pargraphs. I thought the part when you wrote that teachers don't have to call on everyone.
Thank you for your time in viewing and commenting on my article. I really appriciate it <3
Delete- Ananya
I think that the points that you made are true, and you hooked me in from the beginning. The way you switched perspectives from the students to an overall point of view was smooth. Overall your article was excellent.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHi Sophia P.
DeleteThank you so much for your comment. I really appriciate it.
For the last part of this unit, we are focusing on writing one more narrative JOURNALISM peice. We have been given the option to either start a new topic or continue with the previous one. I have decided to continue, and if I have more time, I will be starting a new topic as well. If you have any experiences or information that I could use, I would be very grateful to have it .
Thanks <3
-Ananya
Hey Ananya,
ReplyDeleteYou made some really good and true points throughout your entire article. I also like how you were able to build tension in the first paragraph and how you transitioned from your narrative work into your information. Overall I really enjoyed reading your article. Good job :)
Thank you. I really appreiciate the fact that you took time to read my article.
Delete