Student using iPad in elementary school
11 October 2015 – At the Harvard Business School, socializing is “an extreme sport”. Extroverts are more likely to get book deals and art exhibitions than their introverted counterparts. In America, extroverted parents have been known to send their introverted children to psychiatrists to have their introversion “treated” out of them. We think extroverts are great because they’re charismatic and chatty and self-assured, but in fact they’re comparatively narcissistic and unthoughtful and we’re committing a grave error structuring our society around their garrulous blah.
Most egregiously, we form our workplaces around the extrovert ideal. Group-think favours the dominant extrovert. The loudest, most socially confident and quickest on their feet win the day, whereas the contemplative and quietly well-informed tend not to get a word in.
But school classrooms are increasingly designed to reflect this flawed environment. Classrooms are neglecting the needs of students who work better in quiet settings.
Here is an excellent article about this issue from last month’s The Atlantic Magazine (click here).