ECS 210 Week 2 Blog Post
- The idea of being a “good student’ in western society has been thrown around a lot in recent years. Not only has it been thrown around on the Western side of the world, other societies in the Eastern part of the world have also been having debates around this topic. So, for real, what does it mean to be a “good student”? I would imagine that my thoughts on this topic are very similar to that of other students. For me, a good student as many different traits that they have. For example, these students are always quiet and do not interrupt, pay attention in class, always do all their homework and readings, are always punctual and professional, and they will treat others how they wish to be treated. Now, these are all just things that I brainstormed from my personal experience in school and what I was taught being a good student was. This is all based on my own personal “common sense” and I completely understand that the definition of being a good student likely differs from place to place. I feel like, as a future educator, that these ideas of being a good student are quite narrow minded and are obviously outdated. The traits I listed above are actually very similar to the traits I read in our first reading for this week, and that book was written in the 1800’s. So, obviously, these ideas need to be revamped and changed in a way that all students, no matter where you come from, have the chance to expand their knowledge and not feel like they are being passed by the wayside.
- Moving on to who I think is most privileged when it comes to who is a good student. I would say that students are from the region that we are specifically talking about are privileged when it comes to this topic. What I mean by this is that kids that are born and raised in Canada and go to school in Canada all their lives, are privileged compared to students who maybe aren’t from Canada. They struggle because their educational norms where they have come from may heavily differ from Canadian educational norms. For this reason, these students aren’t as privileged and may not be getting the full education they need or that they want.
- I would 100% be confident in saying that the definition of a “good student” is shaped by the old colonial ways that we read about in that previous readings and honestly just from common sense. It isn’t a mystery that the people who have coined and defined this phrase are powerful white men who control big parts of the world. People like politicians, business owners and elders in our world. These people really only want one thing and that is to preserve the race that they and to make sure they are prosperous for years to come by manipulating the futures of young white people. It is great for us to see that there are many places in the world who are trying to revamp the way they work their education system by reinventing them with new ideas, however, there are still some places who aren’t taking this course of action and it’s a shame. If we could somehow bring the nations of the world together to get into one common head space, it would be a really great day!
Great response Jory. I enjoyed reading your thoughts. I had similar ideas about what a “Good Student” is, and agree that these ideas require revision for the modern classroom. I would be interested to hear why specifically the ideas are necessarily wrong because they existed in the 19th century, and more so, would be interested in hearing your suggestions for a new model of a “Good Student” suitable for today’s classrooms.