Against Common Sense

While I was doing my research I came across this amazing book; "Against Common Sense" by Kevin Kumashiro.  In this book he discusses how to teach for social justice.  He begins by discussing the fact that common sense is not so common.  He says that many of the practices and perceptions we have about teaching and education are oppressive but that we can not see them because we accept them as common.  He challenges teachers to reject the common and examine all aspects of their classroom to see how they oppress students.  He says the moment that we are most at risk of doing harm is when we feel we have achieved equality because we stop looking for the ways we oppress.

Kumashiro then introduces the concept of "looking beyond".  Looking beyond is being will to deeply examine ourselves, our practices and our perceptions.  He writes.

" it means that we raise questions about the necessarily partial and political nature of whatever approach we take.  It means we examine how the things that we teach and learn can both reinforce and challenge oppression, or why we teach and learn only certain things in only certain ways, or what might be alternative ways of teaching and learning and their implications for reinforcing and challenging oppression" (p XL 2004) 

This is the crucial practice of reflection that teachers need to do.  We can not change what we do not acknowledge and Kumashiro challenges us to look deeply and acknowledge our own responsibility in creating oppression.  He helps us see that even when we think we are helping we might at the same time be hindering our students.  Knowledge is not neutral it is political and it operates in different ways for different students.  

As we move through the process of acknowledging that the things we have always held to be true and good might not be Kumashiro says that we will often come to a moment that he calls crisis.  It is deeply unsettling to find out that the things you believe to be true aren't but we must acknowledge this and work through it to achieve true learning.  Kumashiro believes that if our students and ourselves are not experiencing crisis we aren't learning.  It is only when the status quo is called into question and we acknowledge how this makes us feel can we shift our understanding.  He writes, "Learning involves looking beyond what students already know, what  teachers already know, and what we both are only now coming to know, not by rejecting such knowledge but by treating it paradoxically, that is, by learning what matters in society, while asking why it matters." (Kumashiro p32 2004).  

So then what is the goal of all this questioning is it to completely change the curriculum no so says Kumashiro.  He writes, "our goal is to take one lesson or topic or moment at a time, apply some theories of anti-oppressive education, and then see what teaching, learning and changes are made possible" (Kumashiro p58 2004).  For Kumashiro there is no finished product this is a process that will be ongoing throughout a teachers career.  Never will a teacher reach a place where they can say they have effectively created an anti-bias classroom.  This may sound daunting but in many ways it is exciting work.  We are asked to question everyday alongside our students, giving them the skills to become reflective citizens who are able to look for the hidden ways our society oppresses those who are different and begin the daunting task of addressing this.  As society changes what is labeled as different will change so the work begins anew.  

I am challenged by what Kumashiro writes to address diversity within my classroom not as something that can be fixed or dealt with but as a lifelong experience where I work to illuminate the structures that create such diversity.  To show my students that these structures exist but that we can move through them in unintended ways.  Everyday is a fresh slate to begin anew looking for ways to help my students and improve my teaching.  The work is hard and will never be done but it is meaningful work that while deeply unsettling will have results that I am not even sure I can predict.
Megan