One of the things that annoys me is the tendency of teachers to "anoint" popular children even in elementary school. There are kids who get chosen for the best play parts, leadership roles in class, etc. and those who don't.
Teachers could do a really great thing by cultivating leadership more broadly, but they are often stuck in the mentality of their own schooling. Not all, but many.
Yes. They choose popular children who are socially gregarious and extroverted, often strongly so, and generally those who are good athletes as well as moderately good (and highly compliant) teacher-pleaser students. It seems that these children are generally chosen from the 80th-95th percentile ranks in terms of
classroom performance.I've seldom seen the 2e kids, the dreamy ones, the introverts with all of the answers, or the prickly children get chosen this way. No matter how much they have to offer.
In my work with youth (as a volunteer) I go out of my way NOT to ignore such overlooked youngsters. Just because they are quiet doesn't mean that they don't have a lot of potential.
