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In an article about how educators can encourage introverts to participate in class, Kendall Hoyt, a research assistant professor at the Geisel School of Medicine, offers the following insight: “You don’t get a pass for your personality type,” she says. “I understand that social anxiety is a real thing—I am an introvert, and my mother used to actually faint if she had to do public speaking—but part of my job as a teacher is to teach people how to articulate and be heard.”

Hoyt explains why she works so hard on developing the communication skills of her own children, who, she says, are both introverts. “In order to be effective in this world, you must be able to communicate,” Hoyt tells The Atlantic. “If you can’t speak up for yourself, if you can’t muster the courage to tell the person you love that you love them, if you can’t advocate for your own safety, the world will be a very intimidating and frightening place. I don’t want my kids to be intimidated by the world.”

Read the full story, published 2/7/13 by The Atlantic.