In Jane Austen the Secret Radical Helena Kelly suggests that Mary is pregnant during the course of the novel. Is Mary a hypochondriac? She is the youngest child and like Anne probably didn't get much attention (even less from her mother as she was younger when she died). Have we been unjustly maligning Mary this whole time - could she have a chronic illness? Or is it about being an extrovert and really needing to feed off other people to feel "up"?

Is it that Mary craves attention or could it be that she's an extrovert?

Introverts v extroverts. Oil and water. They've always differed, always will. Maybe this virtual, personalized learning movement will finally allow introverts to stop feeling so defeated in the presence of extroverts who live so much more loudly than they do. Finally, they'll be able to live peacefully in their own mind, undisturbed by the stress of feelings like you need to be more extroverted to fit in.

Btw: I'm not encouraging each party to distance themselves from each other all the time. What I am saying is that when value is trying to be distributed, distribute it however it'll best be received. Then, later, once teaching time is over, they can socialize in traditional ways... IF that's what they want to do.