Blog #4: Students

Using the way we have defined “commonsense” in the lectures, “commonsense” is stories that we hear and accept them as truth . As for a student learning “commonsense” stories in the classroom, there are many characteristics that students must have to be considered to be a “good student”. The first thing a “good student” needs to be compliant, and if they are then the students will not reject the stories they are being told, and will accept the story as truth. Another attribute a “good student” must have is they must be “blind” to the truth or opposing view of the story they are being told. By doing this they aren’t opening up their minds to a complete history and will not accept anything other than the narrative they have been told repeatedly throughout their life. The final thing a “good student” needs to be is well behaved. This means that they are good listeners and will not disrupt the class with distractions.

Students that are privileged because of “commonsense” stories are the white middle or upper class students that are not affected by these stories in negative ways. These students that will tend to accept these stories also tend to be in positions of power when they grow up, and these “commonsense” stories influence the ways they run their lives and their work.

One thing that is hard to see past when children are taught to believe these “commonsense” stories, they tend to believe biases and stereotypes that have been created because of “commonsense” stories, and will never believe anything other than those stereotypes, unless the stories are disrupted.