Much has been said about backbenchers and frontbenchers. Backbenchers are notorious, yet they seem to steal the spotlight for being good at what they are: mischievous and humorous. After school life, they are to become poster boys or girls in teachers’ memory books as the naughtiest yet adorable ones. Frontbenchers are the Hermione types. They are clearly the teacher’s pets. They are studious and smart, they never take their eyes off the teacher or the board, they have answers to everything, their right hand works simultaneously to raise and to write. Now, no one would assume that another type of student category actually exists. There is indeed one more that is somehow sandwiched between the frontbenchers and the backbenchers — the middle benchers.
Not famous, never in the limelight, not particularly talented or any less talented, seldom recognised. But they exist, a whole group that often gets overshadowed and ignored for reasons I am about to state as a veteran middle bencher myself. They are there, but not quite there. Visible, but not quite visible. It is a tricky state of existence.
Let us imagine that the teacher shoots a question to the class, the proactive frontbencher will have the hands up in mid-air like Hermione Granger already muttering the answer. The backbencher would get yelled at by the annoyed teacher and in between all this commotion, the middle bencher who knows the answer would be in a greater conundrum on deciding whether to raise the left or right hand to get the teacher’s attention. But by the time the answer-knowing middle bencher has finally made up his/her mind to sum up the courage to answer, the vexed teacher would have already found someone at the front row to please her with perfectly articulated words.
Now let us assume, the teacher decides to confront a middle bencher with a direct question. Well, that is sharp shooting! This time the answer-knowing middle bencher is caught off-guard, is perplexed and ends up stuttering what they may know very well. By then, the tired teacher presumes that the middle bencher doesn’t know the answer to her question, shrugs it off and passes the question to the next person.
Middle benchers are usually soft spoken and are timid so much so that they are unintentionally knocked off the list. They are misunderstood or I am sure many are unaware of their very existence. They may even be smarter but are just too nervous to break the shell. I was a hardcore middle bencher all during my school days. I have always found myself stuck, struggling to utter the right words at the right time. Perhaps, a little push, maybe a gentle pat or even a bit of patience can bring out a lot in them. I missed many chances at school just by being diffident. While the frontbenchers and backbenchers thrive on their agility and assertiveness, middle benchers take a back seat and go unnoticed.
This is because they have a very different set of energy that is misunderstood and can barely pass the general vibe check. They are mistaken to be boring and lacking in character while they in reality are so full of passion and have much flavour to their vivid interests in a more quiet and reflective way. It is a common myth to associate vibrance and leadership to socially outgoing or explicitly extrovert individuals. The middle benchers or the so-called introverts do not need to ‘become’ an extrovert to be successful. It is in identifying the innate power and confidence that a middle bencher possesses, that he/she becomes empowered. It is important to bring about a difference in this universally accepted algorithm, where extroverts and being loud are synonymous with smartness while being quiet and soft spoken are considered fragile. Middle benchers too deserve to feel ‘seen’ and ‘heard’. They just have a more refined and composed way of expressing themselves. Teachers, particularly, should be more empathetic in their approach to understanding these varied personality types.
It is fun to be a middle bencher too because we get to see when a frontbencher hides a “bit paper” and when a backbencher actually does the homework himself!
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