Reading Response 1

The author defines ‘common sense’ as what is told should be taught in schools, not what could be taught in schools. It serves to limit what is considered to be consistent with the purpose of schooling, and as a result, things that challenge ‘common sense’ are often seen as a bad thing, even if they are a good thing.

It is important to pay attention to ‘common sense’ for a number of reasons. First, as pointed out by the author a number of times, ‘common sense’ greatly depends on where you are living. The author outlines their own example as evidence of this idea by pointing out that ‘common sense’ in the U.S. is very different to ‘common sense’ in Nepal, and often ideas used in places like the U.S. are avoided in places like Nepal. This idea moves into the second reason it is important to pay attention to ‘common sense’: it is not always the best way forward. Just because society deems something to be more effective or acceptable does not automatically make it so, there’s more to it than that. Often there are better, more inclusive ways to approach a topic than the ‘common sense’ way employed by a certain society, but as the author points out, challenging ‘common sense’ is very difficult. It is generally very hard to change someone’s mind regarding something they’ve been told their entire life, which is why it is important to pay attention to ‘common sense’ and not always take it at face value.