Do schools serve “extroverts” better than “introverts”?

Chances are you’re probably at least vaguely familiar with the ideas in the picture above.  It’s a graphic explaining the different personality types that make up the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI (the image was taken from the Wikipedia page for the MBTI).  The MBTI provides an assessment of where a person falls along a range of personality traits to determine a individual’s personality type.  One of the focus areas in the MBTI relates to “introversion-extroversion”.  As you can see from the image above, generally speaking, a more “extroverted” person is “talkative and outgoing” and “tends to work out ideas with others, to think out loud”, while a person who skews more to the “introverted” side “prefers a slower pace with time for contemplation, tends to think things through inside [his] own head, and would rather observe than be the center of attention”.

I’ve been thinking lately about extroverts and introverts as I read the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain.  In her book (which you can read more about here or hear some of the main ideas contained in it in this short talk by her here), Cain writes about the “extrovert ideal” prevalent in American society that values people who are outgoing, risk-taking, and attention-grabbing.  She explores the ways in which this ideal—and the role it plays in business, education, and government—can limit the impact of contributions introverts can make, and she proposes ways for introverts (and extroverts, for that matter) to bring out the power and ideas of quieter people.

I was personally drawn to this book because I am an introvert myself.  While I’ve found ways to navigate situations—personally and professionally—that require me to be more extroverted, at the end of the day, I’m at my best when I’m able to be true to my more introverted self.  But reading this book also has me thinking about the role schools play in supporting and nurturing students on a spectrum from extroversion to introversion.

Cain herself wrote an op-ed piece around the time of her book’s publication titled “The Rise of the New Groupthink”.  In part of the essay, she laments the way many schools arrange classrooms and assignments so that working in groups is the primary configuration the majority of the time.  She writes, “SOME teamwork is fine and offers a fun, stimulating, useful way to exchange ideas, manage information and build trust” but that “solitude” can also help us to learn just as much.

At ANCS, students are often collaborating in groups as they work through the projects for which our school is known.  Students also present their learning in front of others, from the portfolio shares in the elementary grades all the way up to 8th graders presenting their portfolios in an exhibition before a committee that determines their readiness for high school.  Even much of our work as a faculty happens in teams and smaller groups.

As an introvert who often preferred to work alone in school, I wonder sometimes about the ways in which our school is supporting the ideas and talents of students who prefer reflection, independent work, and quiet.  There are certainly structures and strategies we use across the school—time for individual thinking and writing, solo projects, choice in how student thinking is presented so that it does not always have to be in front of the whole class—that play to the strengths of students who are more introverted.  But do we strike the right balance so that both extroverted and introverted students are given opportunities to showcase their skills and knowledge while also benefitting from the learning that occurs when they are working in a mode that might not be entirely comfortable to them?

Taking introversion and extroversion into account is but one of many ongoing challenges for teachers working with a classroom full of students who are all unique and different.  But in finding ways to harness what each student has to offer, all of our students—no matter their personality types—are better for it.