As an aspiring teacher, I would naturally want to have students in my class that were considered “good” students. I don’t know if anyone would want students in their class who are inherently “bad” by social standards. By “good” I mean to be respectful of others boundaries and opinions. Being a good student has changed throughout history. Common sense dictates that a “good” student is to be punctual, positive, open-minded, and to be exactly what the curriculum wants. A “good” student fits into the mould of the curriculum by fulfilling every part of what the perfect adult should be. Many of these ideas of what a “good” student should be were derived from stereotypes in history that were based on different races. There was a hierarchy of which races were considered to be the best students and would be able to succeed in being educated towards the perfect adult at that time, which was typically the English and white settlers. The difference of culture was not taken into account, and education was a melting pot and the goal was to assimilate everyone.
With this idea of the “good” student, there are predigests that cause certain students to be privileged and others to be burdened. This concept of “good” students being privileged is still seen in classrooms today. In personal experience, if a student fell into the category of a “good” student they were able to get away with behaviours that would have been considered bad or against the rules because they were getting good grades. Any type of bad behaviour was excused because they were doing well in school. Teachers were more lenient on students doing well, because “they were smart” so they are obviously doing everything else right, they can slack off or take a break, while other students had to work harder. In history, many of these students who were privileged were the students who came from the correct background, i.e. white kids. This is still apparent today, and the predigests have only become more numerous because of the expansion of the knowledge of different sexualities and genders. This one adds another dimension to what is considered the “good” student, now they must be white, male, and straight.
With these stereotypes and new dimensions being added to what makes a student a “good” student, there are aspects of life that are made impossible. For example, it is harder to see the good in everyone because if people don’t fit into what is “good” then that means they are bad. These ideas stomp on the potential for the growth if diversity in society because we want everyone to be “good” and fit into the mould of what adults should be. As teachers, I believe we are to open the world up to students, give them more opportunities and show them their potential to be good in whatever standard that want to be in. If, as teachers, we are supposed to sort students into categories of “good” and “bad” there will continue to be the deviation between good and bad people. Some people believe they are bad because they were told they are, so they keep doing bad things to further prove to themselves that the label they received is in fact true.
What is the true goal of the teacher? Are we to sort students into categories like “will go well” and “won’t succeed”, or are we to show students there is good in everyone, not just those who are of the majority?
Featured Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash.
Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.
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