I, not the most intelligent or popular in the class, sit and do my work nine times out of 10, but somehow suffer the consequences of looking unbothered. The situation I am referring to is being used as a buffer to try and keep the disruptive students at bay. 

Now, this does two things simultaneously, not including the desired result. Firstly, the students will find another way to communicate, or shall I say lean back and talk behind the quiet kid’s shoulders, and secondly, disrupt said student’s learning as they need to try and focus through the loud conversation happening right behind them. 

Group projects also propose a difficulty that no quiet kid wants to confront, most having been placed in a class with no friends have to attempt to find someone who will do the work as well as be fast with it. There is no worse feeling than standing up to find a partner and just standing there to wait for someone who will not show up. 

This results in the teacher interfering and placing strangers together. Now, here’s the kicker: when the groups are already decided and the quiet kid gets placed into a group of friends, more times than not, they get left out, or even worse, they have to do all of the work. 

These are some of the hardest parts about being the quiet kid, and I have experienced all of them on multiple occasions. 

The worst part about this all is the fact that, from a young age, people are all taught to treat each other as equals no matter what. What if someone is sitting on a bench alone, and someone invites them to play house with the others? The sad part is that it’s such a simple thing everyone knows about, yet becomes such an afterthought because of how cheesy it sounds. 

I have suffered it in silence, much like the others who don’t speak their full thoughts on this. Not only that, but in a school system that is so highly clique-oriented, this is a very difficult thing to overcome because in doing so, one may look like they want to have attention or are trying too hard. 

Teachers also feed into this by thinking that bringing the class together and having them act as a whole, but this makes the feeling of being singled out as alone so much more obvious. Whether students or teachers notice, they play favorites and try to appease the majority. 

The quiet kids are not the majority, and they never have been. 

Even though I try and fix things myself as a counselor would tell me and be upfront and place myself out there for an opportunity, some students are not that way. 

Personalities are what help relationships build, and if one does not have an easily likable or relatable one, they will have a hard time overcoming the barrier if even at all. 

Still, this problem of being a quiet kid cannot be solved by myself. Instead, we should prioritize randomness and collaboration throughout the school system, from kindergarten up to senior year. This would promote more social skills and creativity through different students who collaborate. 

And, for those who are not quite ready for that, students should always be offered the choice of soloing an objective. Life is very versatile for jobs that appease everyone of all types. There is no right answer to this, but I do know the feeling of being alone in this world certainly feels wrong.