What does it mean to be a “good” student? The guidelines to being a “good” student are very basic and follow the traditional ideas of a westernized traditional classroom setting. Education is believed to be the tool that helps grow successful adults that benefit society, “Human development should be combined with practical wisdom; the school should be the natural introduction into active life.” (History of Education,3). To be a “good” student that complies with the ideas they must learn in the ways set out for them and be able to follow the set curriculum without challenging it. They have to be the students that society tells them to be. As explained in “Against Common Sense” the teacher struggles with M and N because they do not learn traditional learning strategies, and it challenges the teacher, giving the idea that they are bad students. Although in reality, they are good students but they have different learning skills and different ways of expressing their needs. They challenge the traditional ways of learning; standardized testing, memorization, themes, etc. There is a good quote in History of Education that represents the limitations of the traditional education system and how a “good” student is a student that can follow the traditional guideline, “Education is not creative ; it can not give what Nature has withheld. It is limited by the pupil’s individuality, which it can ennoble, but not radically change.” (5)
When looking at a “good” student it is clear that the education system is prioritizing specific children over other children due to their learning requirements. Students that learn exceptionally well under the memorization, standardized testing due to excel in the education system, and are privileged over students’ that require more to be able to reach the requirements set by the system. “We reward those schools that can get their students to demonstrate such learning and punish those who do not” (Against Common Sense, 24)Students have learned something from their teachers, meaning they are expanding their minds and students with prior knowledge from home learning have a leg up on other students.
Not only is the “good” student shaped by historical factors but also the entire education system is rooted in historical factors. The traditional American education system was created to shape sufficient workers to benefit society and the economy. Pulling traits from the industrial era, with the teacher, student, desk rows, and standardized testing. As well, class plays a major role in the education system, for example the Brahman people of India. Religion has also played a major role in the education system as well as society in general. Creating what we now know as a “good” student.
Hi Ireland,
I think you did an excellent job in your post describing the common sense understanding of a “good” student. When you say that a “good” student does not challenge the approaches to learning that they are being presented with, I think you did a good job stating this since it is the main idea when it comes to this understanding. It is also good to see that you compared what it means to be a “good” student to what we tend to see as a “bad” student.
I notice that you mention a lot about what it means to be a “good” student in terms of the general ways they learn, but I wonder if you considered the specific behaviours that classify students as “good,” such as that they are the students who listen, follow instructions, and get good grades. You also state that class and religion played a role in the history of education and how this connects to the definition of a “good” student, but I wonder how you specifically believe that these factors shaped the “good” student that you described.
When you say that “the education system is prioritizing specific children over other children due to their learning requirements,” I definitely agree. It is the students who are not able to learn under these set circumstances that are not being privileged, like you said. It is good that you talk about how history has focussed on students becoming sufficient workers, being that this is a major factor that has shaped a “good” student. Overall, it is clear that you have a good understanding of how we tend to classify a “good” student!