The “Good Student”

At the beginning of chapter 2 of the reading commonsense, a good student is someone who can listen to instructions, take turns speaking, and can focus for long amounts of time. This account is problematic. However, by the end of the chapter, the author has seemed to come to a conclusion through their experience and instead explains a student should have different qualities, different from those described at the beginning of the chapter. The author explains that teachers should strive for students that have left the school year, knowing more than they had previously. The goal is that these students have learned what is important, academically and socially. These students are also supposed to be able to think about and question what was taught to them. While this new concept of student takes a greater diversity in who is considered a “good student,” it still has some issues. For example, it still does not take into account that some students will learn at different paces. So while some students will have “learned what is important academically and socially,” others will have simply made steps in this direction. This does not mean these students are “bad” or “troubled” it just means they have different learning needs than others, which is the same for every student.

This definition benefits students who are able to keep up with the curriculum and social standards. Basically, benefitting kids that style of learning matches the way the teacher is teaching. This definition makes it impossible to understand the differences in our students. The fact that there is a definition of a good student, and that the definition is so specific, means that there are students who do not fit this definition, implying that there are “bad students”. This is what is troubling about the definition of a good student. The definition does not take into account students who struggle academically, have trouble communicating, or are more introverted than other students. Because the definition excludes this diversity, it makes it impossible to understand what a good student is, because a good student without some sort of individuality does not exist.