What does it mean to be a “good” student according to the commonsense?:

To be a good student according to commonsense, you are supposed to have good behaviour, listen attentively, never disrupt the class, be respectful of your classmates and teachers, and all around conform to social norms of the traditional ways of the classroom. You need to do well in the traditional ways of teaching and test taking which involves being good with memorizing and “saying the right things” which can be quite unfair. Kuamshiro describes that there is this “desired” type of student that school systems have pressured him to produce and that to be a good student you need to fit into these “common sense” rules of being a student. Kumashiro says to receive good grades in school you have to say the “right things in the right ways”, which can be challenging for students who may not succeed in these traditional ways of the classroom and also for students have more creative or diverse outlooks on certain topics that may not be categorized as the “right way” to look at it. Overall to be labelled as a “good” student you have to be able to conform to strict schedule and normalities of school and not try to leave or challenge the traditional ways of schooling.

Which students are privileged by this definition of the good student?:

One of Kumashiro’s students, who he referred to as M, exposes how some students are more privileged than others by this definition of a “good student”. Student’s who easily conform to these social norms of sitting quietly for hours and are able to be attentive and follow instructions thrive in being a good student because they are privileged with good listening skills. However with M, they seem to work better in less structured class time because that is what environment they can work and learn best in. Students who have grown up in communities that have these traditional viewpoints will be privileged with attentive and good listening skills as they are familiar with this. Some student’s who may have a rough home life resulting in have not been taught these listening skills or student’s who may struggle with learning disabilities that may affect their ability to focus will struggle with being quiet at the correct times or understanding these social norms around them because they are not familiar with them or doing this mentally or physically is hard for them. This is completely unfair as these are not due to the kids own faults and we should not just automatically label them as a “bad” kid because they aren’t privileged with these attentive learning skills and ability to conform to these harsh traditional values.

How is the “good” student shaped by historical factors?:

In the history of education, schools have always been surrounded with strict lecture based learning, tests and assignments based on what the students have learnt, and focus on creating students who can listen and produce the material that has been taught. With this history of lecture based learning and continuing that traditional way, it has created the ideal “good” student who is someone who can listen to what is taught while not creating discourse on the topic and produce their known knowledge through an assignment or test. As this way of school has continued to remain almost the same, the ideal “good student” has also remained the same.

Another way a “good” student is shaped by historical factors is resulting from the student’s own educational history. If they were taught how to do something a certain way but later in their educational experience they are told to do it a completely different way, this can affect them because these new ways are not familiar to them resulting in them looking as if they are not a “good” student because they may not succeed in that categorized “correct” way to do something.