‘Commonsense’ Curriculum

In class this week we read two articles, The Problem of Common Sense and Smith – Curriculum Theory and Practice. The problem of Common Sense introduced us to the idea of common sense education. This is the idea that there is a set of common sense rules in a school system that is completely normal to one group but may not be to another. The article, Smith – Curriculum Theory and Practice, introduced us to four approaches to curriculum. These four are product, praxis, process, and syllabus method. The product approach is focused on the end result and is then measured. Praxis is the idea that teachers will shift with students. Process is the idea that there is a plan of the way it will be taught to students. Lastly, the least common is the syllabus method. This is the idea of transmitting infromation from teacher to student.

Kumashiro defines ‘commonsense’ as a normal routine to one particular culture that describes the way the group interacts with eachother, describes the professional world and much more. Many societies have a very clear ‘commonsense’ when it comes to education. Kumashiro’s explanation of ‘commonsense’ relating to education is that it tells us that there is one way to teach and it is the only correct way. Kumashiro explains that the ‘commonsense’ curriculum in Nepal is a “Lecture-practice-exam” style. I realted this to a syllabus style because it appears to be giving lots of information to students for them to memorize then spit back out on an exam. This means the children sit in desks and listen to a teacher lecture straight out of a book, then return home and practice the problems, then come prepared to school for an exam. It is extremely important to pay attention to ‘commonsense’ because you cannot understand the issues and oppressions occuring if you do not understand the routine of the system.

‘Commonsense’ in Canadian Education Systems

The Canadian education system follows its own set of ‘commonsense’ guidelines that may provide benefits and drawbacks to students. Some examples include:

The subjects taught in every grade must include math, English, social studies, and science.

Benefit: These core classes will be covered every year and there should be little overlap and minimal areas not covered.

Drawback: Some other subjects such as French, digital safety, or accounting can be neglected that are also extremely important for joining a working society.

Digital Safety is introduced in roughly grade three.

Benefit: Many agree this is an appropriate age to introduce children to safety on the internet and do not want to introduce it much younger because they feel that kids should not be subjected to dangers on the internet.

Drawback: Many kids are recieving tablets or phones at a younger age than this and may already be subjected to these dangers but are not educated. Our world is changing and the age of children receiving access to technology is decreasing faster than the curriculum is being updated.

These are a few larger examples that effect the students in the classroom. ‘Commonsense’ education can go as far as classifying our subjects with certain colours. To me and many of the kids I attended elementary school with math is red, science is green, English is blue, and social studies is purple. It is strange to think about the tiny things that happen every year in a school that never seem to change just because it has not been challenged

The approach that Canada appears to be working towards/using is the praxis method. This is because our teachers are working with students to help them learn their best. Additionally, at some schools there are plenty of programs offered to students for support.

For Example,

In Canada it is commonsense to have summer holidays during July and August but if you do not understand that this is routine and perhaps not actually beneficial to many you cannot critically think about it. This school calendar was developed years and years ago when stay at home parents was much more common and could provide care for their children over these months. In 2023 the role of stay at home parent is much less common and summer holidays requires parents to pay for childcare for two months. Summer holidays is evidently commonsense but perhaps it is not practical or beneficial for all families.