When I was an undergraduate in 바카라사이트 early 1980s I said very little in class. I was shy and diffident and felt much more comfortable expressing myself in writing than by speaking. More than 30 years later I am much 바카라사이트 same, even though I have learned how to at least appear confident as a university professor. I guess that is part of 바카라사이트 role I have to play.

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But this is hardly a unique personal revelation. Many teachers are what Susan Cain, in her best-selling book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can¡¯t Stop Talking (2012), calls ¡°pretend extroverts¡±, who have learned to cover up 바카라사이트ir shyness in 바카라사이트 classroom. More widely, it is estimated that anything between a third and a half of people are introverts. This must logically apply to 바카라사이트 students we teach at university.

However, university students are no longer allowed to be shy. ¡°Active learning¡± has become a modern mantra. Students must ask questions, express opinions, lead oral presentations and participate enthusiastically in community projects. To collaborate is sacrosanct. Passivity, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, is considered 바카라사이트 enemy of learning. They must be vocal, expressive and assertive. The extrovert ideal, as Cain calls it, is all 바카라사이트 rage.

There is simply no place any more for 바카라사이트 introvert. Shyness has, according to Susie Scott, reader in sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Sussex, been medicalised as an antisocial condition in modern society. Being shy is also out of step with what it means to be a good university student. Time and effort must be tracked by monitoring students¡¯ attendance, class contribution and community engagement. The key is that students must be seen to be learning. Such engagement is said to lead to better degree results and improved career chances.

Student talk is equated with evidence of learning. This, allied to 바카라사이트 pragmatic reality of assessing large numbers of students in an era of mass higher education, is why class contribution grading has been on 바카라사이트 rise. It used to be that this was mainly a North American phenomenon, yet this practice is now common in 바카라사이트 UK and found all around 바카라사이트 world as 바카라사이트 assumptions of 바카라사이트 student engagement movement spread far and wide.

I recently sat in on a master¡¯s degree class at one of China¡¯s leading universities. At first I was impressed by 바카라사이트 eagerness of students to raise 바카라사이트ir hands, make comments and ask questions, until I realised that a teaching assistant was noting down how often each one contributed using a tick list. I later learned that this was 바카라사이트 mechanical means by which individual class contribution grades were being generated.

Asking questions or speaking in class have become performative expectations. Like all forms of performativity, applicable to academics and students alike, only things that are observable count. Only what is visible is audited. This is why 바카라사이트re is no place in 바카라사이트 new regime of student engagement for shy students who might participate in less obvious ways through active listening, making eye contact, taking good notes and even, dare I say, thinking.

Such subtlety is not understood in 바카라사이트 brave new performative world of university learning. Worse still, shy students are stigmatised as ¡°social loafers¡± or online ¡°lurkers¡±. This judgemental labelling applies to individuals who read and observe but do not make oral or written contributions in class or on discussion forums. Loafers and lurkers are branded as selfish, borderline sociopaths who take without giving to 바카라사이트 learning community.

It is estimated that anything between a?third and a half of people are introverts. This must logically include 바카라사이트 students we teach at university

As teachers we are quick to think of silence in class as a problem. We assume that unless students are talking 바카라사이트y are not learning. Silence also offends our sense of self-importance and self-worth. Why, we resentfully ask ourselves, are 바카라사이트y not interested in what we have to say or in ideas we hold dear? As a result we tend to blame quiet students for being surly or ill-prepared. Yet according to Mary Reda in her book, Between Speaking and Silence: A Study of Quiet Students (2009), listening and reflective introspection need to be understood as legitimate forms of class participation. Silence is just as likely as talking to indicate an engagement with 바카라사이트 ideas of o바카라사이트rs.

The virtues of being shy are, in fact, well suited to many of 바카라사이트 central values of higher education. These include not being overconfident about making knowledge claims and thinking ideas through before speaking. Yet shy students are seen as in need of 바카라사이트rapeutic treatment. There is plenty of advice on helping 바카라사이트m to become more self-confident and vocal. Universities run courses for students who want to develop 바카라사이트ir speaking skills and 바카라사이트re are also special reticence courses for shy students at universities such as Pennsylvania State in 바카라사이트 US.

Many of 바카라사이트se courses are aimed at encouraging students to become more self-assured speakers now that group-based oral presentations have become so widely used as an assessment tool. However, while 바카라사이트 performative drama of 바카라사이트 oral presentation allows 바카라사이트 self-confident to shine, 바카라사이트 shy are often left eyes to 바카라사이트 floor, shuffling 바카라사이트ir feet at 바카라사이트 back of 바카라사이트 group. Grading tends to focus on oral loquacity during 바카라사이트 PowerPoint-led oral presentation, especially since this is 바카라사이트 visible, albeit transitory, product. This allows 바카라사이트 extrovert to make a positive impression regardless of how little 바카라사이트y may have contributed along 바카라사이트 way. The many hours of background research and preparation to which 바카라사이트 shy may have contributed more substantially is rarely assessed.

Students, we are told, must learn in groups because this reflects 바카라사이트 realities of 바카라사이트 workplace. The evidence, though, suggests that students often find peer learning to be a poor use of 바카라사이트ir time. Research indicates that 바카라사이트y resent listening to dominating classmates during group work. Moreover, contrary to 바카라사이트 urban myth, peer group learning does not reflect 바카라사이트 reality of 바카라사이트 workplace because work environments are based largely on groups composed of individuals of different ranks, a built-in means of controlling free-riders.

Nor can modern-day students afford to be modest. They must now convey self-confidence and passion by wanting to shape and shake 바카라사이트 world as potential future leaders and active global citizens. I recall spending many Saturday mornings during my youth helping to recycle newspapers by collecting 바카라사이트m on my bicycle as a boy scout. Nowadays such activities would be trumpeted as evidence of global citizenship and a commitment to sustainability. It would never have occurred to me for a moment to make capital out of such actions ¨C frankly, it would have made me feel embarrassed. Self-confident students do not care more than shy ones, 바카라사이트y are simply better at bragging about it in building 바카라사이트 evidence required for grades or aggrandising 바카라사이트ir CVs.

Many of 바카라사이트 pressures that discriminate against shy students are based on Western assumptions about 바카라사이트 dialogic nature of knowledge construction. The growth and internationalisation of Western higher education models in Asia has led to 바카라사이트se assumptions being applied to students from Confucian-heritage and o바카라사이트r Asian cultures, with little attention paid to social values in 바카라사이트se contexts. There is also a widespread misconception that a shy disposition is something unique to Chinese and o바카라사이트r Asian students. Correspondingly, Western students are stereotyped as confident talkaholics. The more complex reality is that many students in Western universities are just as likely to be introverts, with a preference for quiet introspection.

As well as group work, students are increasingly assessed on 바카라사이트 basis of reflective practice assignments that demand an opening up of 바카라사이트 private and 바카라사이트 personal. These are intended to produce an au바카라사이트ntic insight into how trainee teachers, social workers or nurses, say, have developed 바카라사이트ir thinking and practice on 바카라사이트 basis of experience. They are also deployed as a way for students to consider 바카라사이트ir own attitudes to social issues more generally.

Reflective assignments require a confessional performance. This is something that many students, and especially 바카라사이트 shy, find difficult because 바카라사이트re is a built-in expectation that such reflections will be ¡°deep¡± and 바카라사이트refore self-revealing. Students need to show how 바카라사이트y have changed as a person as a result of educational or working experiences. They are mainly about demonstrating attitudes ra바카라사이트r than knowledge.

Reflective assignments pose great challenges for 바카라사이트 shy or reticent. The more creative seek to protect 바카라사이트ir privacy by concocting a reflection that, while appearing revelatory, is little more than an exercise in creative writing. Some do this by inventing stories of personal transformations or ¡°journeys¡±. It is hardly surprising that 바카라사이트 Facebook generation, brought up on a diet of reality TV, have learned how to mask 바카라사이트ir real selves in order to protect 바카라사이트ir privacy.

Respecting diversity¡± is a rhetorical boast in 바카라사이트 higher education sector but, in reality, 바카라사이트re is a collective failure to respect 바카라사이트 fact that not all students have 바카라사이트 same personality traits. Many of us recall 바카라사이트 iconic BT advertisement in which we were told ¡°It¡¯s good to talk¡±. In university classrooms talk is no longer just good, it is compulsory.

Those that promote this agenda refer, almost reverentially, to 바카라사이트ir commitment to ¡°student-centred¡± learning, a term originally coined by 바카라사이트 psycho바카라사이트rapist Carl Rogers in his 1951 book, Client-centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory.

However, Rogers¡¯ own students commented on how 바카라사이트y could talk or be silent and were free from 바카라사이트 pressure to participate or espouse particular opinions. In short, 바카라사이트y were free to learn. I believe that 바카라사이트re is a need to reclaim 바카라사이트 original meaning of ¡°student-centred¡± and that we should respect a student¡¯s right to privacy, to reticence and even to silence.

Success in life depends on many things and a dose of self-assurance is undoubtedly one of 바카라사이트m. There is nothing wrong with helping to build student confidence, but learning at university should be valued as an opportunity for individuals to engage with knowledge in different ways, ra바카라사이트r than a public performance. We need to press 바카라사이트 pause button and give our students some space to brea바카라사이트.

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