The Common Sense Problem!

Today I read the introduction to Kumashiro’s book Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice. Kumashiro’s concept of curriculum is quite revealing because it explains the idea of educational “commonsense”; which is an amalgamation of ideas, priorities, and values that society has come to understand as the most beneficial for education. Due to this majority belief it influences the way educators teach in a subconscious matter and how students learn in a subconscious matter.

It is very important to understand what commonsense is and what it means for students and teachers. Some educational practices may favor certain students and as teachers it is our duty to be able to think critically about the effects our methods of teaching can have on students. Racism, classism,  sexism, heterosexism and more are things that may be taught through hidden curriculum or brought from home by students that can impact another student’s ability to learn. As a future teacher it will be my responsibility to keep myself aware of biases in my lessons and critique the way I teach so that I can make improvements for the benefit of all my students. My goal needs to focus on helping students gain the ability to critique and resist privileges or stereotypes that may work in their favor or against them.

Commonsense should also be something that is constantly debated, if educators somehow managed to find a perfect system, then we’ve gone awry somewhere in the process. It is desirable for commonsense to always be shifting, and debates about it, to me, seem very utilitarian.  I think this, because there are always different means of thinking than our own, and there will always be resistance to change, our job is to weigh the pros and cons of all the options and make choices that result in the biggest benefit for the majority of people. That’s why it is impossible for commonsense to have one stationary definition  because the definition of what people find to be beneficial in education will always take form in their morality and beliefs which shift constantly from person to person.

Author: brodlanj

This site is for my ECS 100 teacher portfolio. I am an joint kinesiology and education student at the university of Regina. I have been studying for six years now, I am currently finishing the education portion of my degree as well as extra minors in french and health. My goal is to one day become a physical education teacher in the francophone school system.

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