Reading: Introduction. The problem of common sense (Kumashiro. (2009). Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice, pp. XXIX – XLI).
Reading response: Respond to the following writing prompt: How does Kumashiro define ‘commonsense?’ Why is it so important to pay attention to the ‘commonsense’?
Kumashiro defines (through his story) ‘common sense’ as the way we have been trained, taught or accustomed to see and do things. Kushamiro’s common sense was much different from that of her Nepali students’.
It is so important to pay attention to the common sense because it can blind us. What is considered common sense to each one of us and the societies we “belong to” are often seen as superior to others’ common sense in our own eyes. This leads to oppression and being ignorant and blind to others’ ways of learning, teaching, and living. Not only acknowledging, but working to unravel and disrupt, our own ideas of common sense enable us to change the that ideas are understood. If persistent, this unraveling and disturbance can eventually lead to a revolution in working through oppression.
