The commonsense of being a good student refers to a student who is quiet, listens carefully and takes notes. The student also has a natural gift for being able to take tests and exams and achieve a good mark without extra help from the teacher. However not all students fit into this category, does  that mean that they are not a good student? 

Kevin Kumashiro creates the definition of what the ideal good student is stating that a good student is someone that is “completing certain assignments and repeating on exams the correct definitions or themes or analyses in a strong essay format” (21). The problem with this definition is that it does not include everybody. A student does not have to be able to memorize and learn by only listening to what the teacher has to say to be a good student. You can be a good student even if you are someone that cannot sit still for long periods of time and require a little extra effort in order to obtain the facts needed for an exam or test. 

In history, the idea of what makes a good student was close to the same idea as it is now. History’s definition of a good student has formed what today’s definition states. In “A History of Education,” they describe students as hopeless in need of direction. They describe “man [as] helpless and ignorant” and “without the strength and knowledge necessary to maintain an independent existence” (2). Education in this time period is necessary in order to create a new generation. One can infer that a good student in that time period would be one who listens and obtains all the information that the educators give to them, without the need of classification. One must sit quietly and become educated on what it means to be independent. This is similar to today’s standard, educators must teach students how to be independent but in a more subtle way, thus meaning that the student must require less classification from the teacher to be a good student. 

F.V.N Painter (1886) A history of education. https://archive.org/details/historyofeducati00painiala

Kevin K. Kumashiro (2010) Against Common Sense https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JMhySclU27gK-Vo3v4Oesfzp3dVKqG9r/view