What does it mean to be a “good” student according to the commonsense? Which students are privileged by this definition of the good student? How is the “good” student shaped by historical factors?

Being a “good student” according to common sense is being a student that conforms and is easily controlled, as thought by Kumushiro. He wanted his students to follow his directions and became frustrated when his students dd not want to learn at the pace he was teaching. A good student was one who did not question their teachers or other authority figures on the content they were learning.

Historically a good student, according to Professor Huxley, was one “who has been so trained in his youth that his body is the ready servant of his will…; ready, like a steam-engine, to be turned to any kind of work”.  They wanted to create these well-behaved students who were well-rounded and therefore contribute to the advancement of society. The students must learn at the teacher’s pace, and those that could not were punished or blamed–it was never the teacher’s fault if a student fell behind, and they would not adapt to the students’ needs. As we read in A History of Education (Painter, 1876), the ideal student was one with “American ancestry” as it criticized the citizens and education systems of China and India.

Students that benefit from this definition of a good student are those that can learn (or memorize) quickly. These students earn good grades, have the desired behaviour, and completes their work in a neat and tidy manner.