Thank you for this insightful article. I am a mother of two boys, and I am not a middle, nor are my kids. Academically, my kids are not middles either, but I still understand and believe the importance of this article. The best and brightest students give school tours. They are speakers, presidents of the clubs, get the awards, they are the “chiefs.” 

We need leaders, but we also need the “indians" of the group, not all chiefs—not everyone can be celebrated. In schools today, so much time is celebrating the top, these kids who are behaving, making grades and are good kids are not celebrated enough. Not everyone can be the “super star.”

Our family has conversations about soccer, for instance. Even though a child might not be the forward or person who makes the goal—they are a vital part of the team being a mid-field who keeps the team going, another “middle"—we just had that conversation.

We tell our kids we don't want them to “peak” in high school, but get a foundation and confidence to grow and challenge themselves; if the “middles” were celebrated a little more, then maybe the high school experience could change just a bit—and wow, just think what our future as citizens of America and the world could be.

Kelly Liebel, responding to a column by Jennifer Vigne in the Oct. 6 edition of SRQ Daily.