ECS 210
Is 'Common sense' problematic?7/7/2020 When I first thought about common sense I thought these are things that everyone knows, people from anywhere around the world knew these things. Some common sense things that I could think of like clean up after yourself/ try to keep a tidy house (room), brush your teeth twice a day, check both ways before crossing road for cars, and so much more. My view point on 'common sense' has now changed after reading; "The problem of Common Sense" by Kumashiro. Kumashiro has their own ideas of what 'common sense' is she understands after her time spent with The Peace Corps in Nepal that common sense is different for everyone, it is different around the world. That they had to change their own thoughts on meals, water, time, privacy, and other aspects of daily life so that they were understanding common sense from the viewpoint of people living in Nepal. It is important to pay attention to the 'common sense' of the community we are living in or visiting as we need to look past our own prejudices and see that our way of living is not the only correct way. We need to be able to fit others ways of living into our own viewpoints, while teaching in other countries because we need to have an understanding of our students lives. We also need to see that 'common sense' may be different for people living in the same community as us. Peoples religions, cultures, lifestyles, identities have an affect on their common sense. This means that it may be common sense for someone that they pray every night but for other families this isn't something they do. As a future teacher this needs to be learnt, and looked at so we are not bringing our own prejudices into the classroom. We should not assume that students follow certain guidelines or know certain things, because many people have different views on 'common sense'. In Nepal they follow a different curriculum model then we do here in Canada. "Lecture-practice-exam approach to teaching had become so ingrained in the practices of Nepal's schools as to have become a part of 'common sense'. They start their school semester in mid-February but instructions did not start until late-February because most students didn't attend till then. Class lessons focused around government issued textbooks; where the lesson went through some sample lessons and then for homework the students would complete a parallel problem at home. Each morning the teacher would go through the problems from the homework the night before. This was what a typical day in Nepal looked like according to Kumahiro. In Canada our schedule is different compare to that of Nepal's; Canadian schools go from end of summer to beginning of the next summer. We follow a set curriculum, which is basically a checklist that students need to learn but we have to not look at it that way. We need to figure out what the students need to help them succeed, and what their skill level is. Every student had a different skill level and gain different skills at different times. The Canadian curriculum is outdated and doesn't support certain ways of thinking, of identifying, and of relating to others (isms). We are a multicultural country so our curriculum should support that; the Canadian curriculum reflects the perspectives, experiences, and values of only certain people in society, especially those who have traditionally been privileged or currently wiled political influences. Sometimes it is difficult to look at our own practice, to raise questions about the purpose or effectiveness of many of these practices but we need to look beyond the checklist of the curriculum and support the diversity of our Country. One part of 'The problem of Common Sense' that struck me the wrong way was when Kumashiro was talking about what The Peace Corps was. She explained that the goal was to help schools in Nepal adopt what many of the United States have learned about teaching and in essence be more like American Schools. Every country is different, they have different common sense and different views on the world. No one should be conformed to be more like someone they aren't, no matter if its in their country or with in your own country. People should be free to express their own selves, their own views and their own lifestyles.
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