Teachers have always concentrated their attention, rightly so, on students who stand out because of their remarkable talents or because of their unruly behavior. In a class of 25 children, the extremes are readily apparent to impartial observers. And so, a small portion of students are almost ignored because they never give problems and never volunteer answers. They are the withdrawn types.
This withdrawal from social participation may be a sign of very deep emotional problems or simply of extreme shyness. In either case, these children may very well be the butt of jokes by extroverted classmates. Most of these quiet students actually do their work and pass their tests, since they usually possess adequate skills. They will not cause a blip on the teacher's radar and thus will remain largely ignored.
Other withdrawn students however, who do not fare well in class, will be tested and perhaps placed in special education settings as slow learners. They too will be ridiculed by some of their more advanced classmates. This constant emotional attack throughout primary schooling will eventually produce children who have a very low self-esteem and who lose their motivation for success.
With time, these withdrawn students will stop participating in group work, fearing scathing comments by some of their peers. They will only go through the motions with very little commitment and engagement in school work and will abstain from participating in extracurricular activities. The slow learners will quickly be labeled as such with insulting terms such as dummy, stupid, dimwitted and moron by other children.
Even though teachers in primary schools feel overworked, it is essential that they quickly identify and offer help to the withdrawn children. These students need a lot of support, both emotional and academic. There are strategies that can help them, which include talking to the other students and explaining how important the participation of each group member is.
It may even be necessary for schools to recommend professional treatment by psychologists and counselors to both the withdrawn students and their parents. A weekly one-on-one session with the child may bring him/her out of the shell, thus allowing the discovery of the fears that afflict him/her.
Unfortunately, public schools usually pay little attention to those cases due mainly to reduced budgets for mental health. The parents themselves may not be able to pay the very expensive private treatment or they assume that the child is going through a "phase". If nothing is done, we will produce thousands of troubled adults who won't know how to face life's daily challenges.
译文:
被忽略的学生
理所当然地，老师总是把他们的注意力集中在那些扎眼的学生身上，由于他们的非凡才华或由于他们不守规矩的举动。在一个班级25个孩子里，对旁观者来说那些比较极端的孩子很容易进入他的视线。所以，一小部分比例的孩子就几乎被忽略了，因为他们从不出状况，也从不主动回答问题，他们的性格太内向了。
这种社会活动中的退缩也许是一种深层次情感问题的表现或者只是一种极度的害羞。任何一种情况下，这些孩子最有可能成为外向型同学们的嘲笑对象。这些安静的孩子们中绝大部分事实上都做好他们的功课，通过考试，因为他们通常都掌握了足够的知识。他们不会引起老师的注意因此也就一直被忽视了。
但是还有一部分内向的学生，他们在班上成绩也不是很好，老师就会认为他们学习进度慢，就以特别的方式教授他们和让他们做测验。他们也会被某些比他们学习好一点的同学嘲笑。这种遍布小学校园的固定不变的情感类攻击将最终导致孩子们极度没有自信心和缺乏争取成功的动力。
随着时间的推移，这些内向的学生会拒绝参加小组活动，他们害怕来自比他们优秀的同学伤害性的话语。他们只会参加没有任何评论的活动或者学校的工作，不再参加课外活动。而这些学习能力比较弱的孩子们也会很快被其他的孩子冠以例如哑巴、愚蠢、傻子、低能等辱骂性的词语。
尽管小学教师也对此感觉到很累心，但他们很快地认清这种状况并且给予那些内向的孩子提供帮助是很重要的。这些学生需要大量的支持，不管是情感上的还是理论知识方面的。这儿介绍几种能帮助他们的方法，包括和其他学生交流以及向他们解释每一个参加小组活动的成员的重要性。
对学校来说，建议内向的学生及其家长进行由心理学家和法律顾问指导的专业治疗也是很有必要的。一星期一次和孩子的一对一训练可以使他（或她）脱去他的防御，这样让那些使他（或她）害怕恐惧的情感释放出来。
不幸的是，公立学校通常因为对于精神健康的低预算而对这些案例不太重视，家长自己本身也没有在这方面的治疗花费太多或者他们认为孩子只是正在经历一个“特殊阶段”。如果我们对此袖手旁观，那么今后将会产生成千上万的问题成年人，他们将不知道该如何面对人生中的各种挑战。