PHI DELTA KAPPAN November 2008 Why Self-Discipline Is Overrated: The (Troubling) Theory and Practice of Control from Within By Alfie Kohn Para leer este artículo en Español, haga clic aquí Pour lire cet article en français, cliquer ici. For an extended and updated discussion of this topic, please see chapter 7 of the book The Myth of the Spoiled Child. If there is … Read More
From the Appendix (“Parenting Styles: The Relevance of Culture, Class, and Race”) to Unconditional Parenting (Atria Books, 2005) Copyright © 2005 by Alfie Kohn Parental Discipline and Race By Alfie Kohn ….Needless to say, differences in discipline styles occur not only across cultures but among groups within a single culture, particularly when we’re talking about a complex modern society such … Read More
EDUCATION WEEK November 20, 1996 Beyond Discipline By Alfie Kohn A few years ago, I received a letter from a woman who was working on a book about a progressive educator. She said she was considering devoting a chapter of her manuscript to a discussion of a program called Assertive Discipline, which was at best only indirectly related to her … Read More
LEARNING MAGAZINE October-November 1995 Discipline Is The Problem — Not The Solution By Alfie Kohn When things in my classroom hit bottom, there were days when I was convinced that the kids stayed up nights plotting ways to make my life miserable. It was only later that I realized their disruptions were basically just intended to make the time pass … Read More
March 4, 2024 Cognitive Load Theory An Unpersuasive Attempt to Justify Direct Instruction By Alfie Kohn A remarkable body of research over many years has demonstrated that the sort of teaching in which students are provided with answers or shown the correct way to do something — where they’re basically seen as empty receptacles to be filled with facts or … Read More
February 28, 2023 How to Prevent Social Change: A Handy Guide for Educators and Parents By Alfie Kohn If you’re the sort of person who prefers to perpetuate rather than challenge the status quo — or maybe just a fan of inequity — I have good news for you. Certain ways of raising and teaching children are actually much more … Read More
November 3, 2022 “Eduspeak” Reconsidered When, Why, and to Whom Is Educational Jargon Annoying? By Alfie Kohn Over the years I’ve heard a lot of people complain — sometimes good-naturedly, sometimes with remarkable venom — about our field’s use of jargon. Eventually I began to wonder why “eduspeak” or “edspeak” (or, less charitably, “edu-babble”) vexes people so, and to what … Read More
September 30, 2022 Is It Enough for Learners to Be “Engaged”? By Alfie Kohn “To enhance achievement, one must first learn how to engage students.” That challenge by Fred Newmann, emeritus professor of education at the University of Wisconsin,1 could serve as the motto for an entire movement by thoughtful theorists, researchers, and practitioners in the field. And it makes … Read More
April 29, 2022 Last Time, the Religious Right Told Us Not Only What We Can Teach but How to Teach It By Alfie Kohn Christian conservatives are banning books and censoring school curricula — and not for the first time. Materials dealing with sexuality and sexual orientation have always been popular targets for them; indeed, researchers have found that literally … Read More