This week, we read two articles on education and how it looks in the classroom. These articles focused heavily on learning and what it means to be a good students and a good teacher. In the commonsense article, it explained what a good student should be.
A good student is a student who will sit quietly, do their work, and not question what they are learning. This definition for a good student doesn’t really fit for a lot of students. This student only works and privileges quiet children who do not have attention issues or disabilities. If students have disabilities or attention issues, sitting still and being quiet can be also impossible. Kumashiro has a “curriculum as product” mindset and treated his students as so.
This definition of a good student has been around for as long as education has been instilled. In the other article we read, which was from 1886, described students the same way. Quiet, don’t question the material and according to the article is “symbolized by a tree planted near fertilizing waters” (Painter, 1886. p. 1). Painter believes students should be able to soak up the knowledge and grow from it.
The good student definition is strongly shaped by historical factors. Children learned in a way that prepared them for work and factory jobs. They sat far away from each other, did not speak to each other, and did not make trouble. This definition of a child who does not speak, does not ask questions, and is quiet has always been around. Even through all the changes that the school system and history has experienced, this never left. While this mindset is slowly progressing, it was still in effect heavily for over a decade.
References
Kumashiro, K. K. (2009). Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice. (Revised ed.). Routledge.
Painter, F. V. N. (1886). The International Education Series: A History of Education (W. T. Harris, ed.; Vol. 2). D. Appleton and Company. https://archive.org/details/historyofeducati00painiala/page/n27/mode/2up
Hi Laina,
I agree with your comment about how a ‘good’ student doesn’t sit well a lot of students. Every child has a different personality, attention span, etc. A student could study for weeks and receive a lower grade than a student who studied for a day, and it doesn’t make them any less of a ‘good’ student.
Hey, I totally agree with your comments about students what a good student is. I was just wondering what about the students who are quiet and attentive but are still labeled as a ‘bad’ student because of social misogynies?