What is common sense for a student may not be common sense to everyone else (especially adult professors). Think about the question: why do American teenagers in the year 2014 prefer to text rather than to talk on the phone? For a professor, common sense might theorize “Teenagers text because that way their parents can’t overhear their conversations with their friends.” To a teenager, common sense might say, “Teenagers text because it’s faster and because we don’t want our friends’ phones to ring if they are in class/at church/at sports practice.” Both are common sense theories–but students should not underestimate their own common sense, which sometimes they do (I certainly did).
— Contributed by Dr. Sarah Fischer, Marymount University