To be a ‘good’ student, according to the commonsense, is to do as you’re told, to memorise the information that is given, and to sit quietly. If a person wants to be a ‘good’ student then they have to go along with what the teacher says, or go along for the ride. You have to be attentive in class and do all of your homework. A good student shows up on time and leaves on time. They don’t necessarily ask extra questions and a good student definitely wouldn’t challenge the teacher. The commonsense dictates that students should basically just listen to the teacher and do the work that the teacher assigns.
The students who are generally privileged by this definition of a good student are middle to upper class white students, especially males. These students generally come with a mind set of, listen to authority and do well in school. Another reason that these people have an advantage at being good students is because the curriculum generally applies to them. For example, history class is totally white washed to cater to the European-white legacy that has been built by Europe and built on in the West. This empowers white students, while alienating non-white students. This can make non-white students uninterested and unengaged in class. Some non-white students would perhaps even reject the history that is taught and therefore these students become ‘bad students’ according to the commonsense. This is a major issue in our schools today and has serious negative effects on students.
The commonsense makes it hard for the majority of people to imagine any other type of education that isn’t the product based model that they experienced. The commonsense is based on what people experienced in their own lives and what their parents experienced and were told, and so on. The commonsense is pushed by many figures in society and is even pushed by society itself. This makes it very difficult or nearly impossible to break the cycle of our current education model. It makes it almost impossible to imagine something new. It also makes it almost impossible to think critically about things that we already possess a common knowledge on. It makes it hard to critically think in general because there is basic and widely accepted knowledge in society, that is known as common sense or common knowledge.
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