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September 13 Not as Common SenseI've been a teacher for just over a year and a half now, and I'm finding a very alarming number of students who do not have common sense. This isn't limited to any particular year level, it's right across the board.
Dictionary.com states that common sense is "sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence." I tend to think that common sense is about having the ability to put two ideas together, that are normally independent of each other according to the individual.
What I've discovered is that teenagers today do not have this 'sound practical judgement'. They don't have the ability to stop and think about something, or even to try and find an answer to a practical dilemma by accessing their own knowledge. Whatever it is they are trying to do, teenagers are now locked into using a crutch of some form in order to find their answer. They'll ask someone else before thinking, or they might access the internet or media. Whatever it is that a teenager does to try and find a solution to a practical issue, they are not trying to access their own knowledge. Common sense is not as common as it used to be.
For example, I am constantly being asked to lend pens, pencils, rulers, and calculators in class. I have a policy where I do not lend items to students if they are things that have been lent before and never returned. So, when a student says, "Miss, can I borrow a pen?", they should automatically know that my answer is going to be "No"! Common sense doesn't even register!
Then it gets worse... When I say "No", the student then asks, "Where am I going to get a pen then?" I usually respond by saying, "Ask someone else if you can borrow a pen off them." Simple, isn't it? You'd think this would be the first thing that the student does, rather than asking me, when they already know that I wont lend them anything!
Then there's the classic, "Miss, I'm too hot, can you put the fans on?" Guess what!? The student is wearing a jumper or jacket! If it's too hot, why not take your jumper or jacket off?!
I could cite quite a few other head-slapping moments such as the ones before, but the picture is made clear. Common sense, at least among teenagers, is not as common as it used to be. I don't know how it has reached this point, but I am seriously concerned about the future. After all, when these students leave school, they will be the ones serving the public in some way.
If only we could have a special subject in schools that teaches students to use common sense. They need to learn that they have the ability to answer many of the questions that they ask every day, or to solve the dilemmas that they come across. If only they would look into their own banks of knowledge and find the answer! Then again, it would take common sense to do that, wouldn't it? September 01 It's All in the StatisticsI've hardly been on my blog site, putting up token entries just so that hotmail doesn't shut me down. However, if this was a business, then "business must be booming" as this blog has reached over
6,000
page views!
It's all in the statistics, folks! The only reason that my blog is so popular at the moment, is because of my Guitar Hero guitar grip customised skin. People have either looked at it, or have downloaded it.
I guess it pays to share. |
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