Week One: What is Curriculum?

Throughout this article many different key points were brought to my attention. I had never really thought about the idea of ‘common sense’ before Kumashiro discussed many different ideas. He defines ‘common sense’ as something we should be taught to do throughout the years. It is not something that we are going to be taught about suddenly, but rather through our lives we have been taught. He states; “Common sense does not tell us the this is what schools should be doing; it tells us that this and only this is what schools should be doing.” (pg. 4) Therefore, it is not something over the years that really ever changes but it is something that has always been there and traditionally we must continue to teach our students in such ways. Common sense is not something we need to question as it is what it is. This is part of the reason we feel pressures to conform.

It is important to pay attention to ‘common sense’ for many different reasons. One main reason is because it can be oppressive so we must learn how to be an anti-oppressive educators. Common sense makes it easy to continue to teach in ways that are oppressive that are already in play and continue to be unchallenged. The practices and perspectives are masked within certain concepts that we continue to do what we are known to do. Furthermore, it is important to pay attention to common sense as it gives us a sense of comfort and helps us make sense and feel at ease with the things we repeat everyday in our lives. (pg. 4) It keeps us on ‘track’ and we are able to continue to teach the things we know we should be teaching.