What does it mean to be a ‘good’ student according to common sense, according to Kumashiro to be a good student is to follow and respect the rules and expectations of the classroom. A good student is usually defined as a student who actively engages in classrooms activities, that understands the curriculum with little to no assistance, who achieve high grades, and is respectful to the classroom teacher and the students around them.  Kumashiro defines a “good” student as a student that believes in the values that we believe that mainstream society chooses to place on a specific types of behaviors, knowledges and skills. In one of his examples Kumashiro gives us some intel from his previous teaching years, these behaviors were exemplified.

The students that benefited from this definition of the good student were the students of the wealthier families. The ones that often had the extra resources to be successful in and outside of the classroom. They had the resources to seek help when they were struggling with a topic, where as the students that were defined as “bad” students often did not have an idea place to go to be successful. They did not have ideal home situations, or the resources to be successful.

The “good” student has been shaped by historical factors in many ways, it is seemed that throughout history,  the ‘good’ student is based off of what is expected from your student in certain cultures. It is often based off our past expectations that we have associated with cultural traditions and values. It has been made abundantly clear that the ideals of a ‘good’ student are students of white descendants, if you did not fall into this category you would struggle to be seen as a ‘good’ student. We as educators need to put aside our biases and become more adapting to all of our students.

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/n9/mode/2up.