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Posted On 01-05-2008 12:32 AM
Your Name: Rachel Brown
Comment: I began reading Unconditional Parenting, and agreed with much of what it said in the first five chapters. (Although these were not new ideas to me, and are certainly not exclusive to Mr Kohn.) When I happened across his crazed tirade against religion on page 102, though, I simply couldn't read any further. My usual action is to donate books that I no longer wish to own, so as not to be wasteful, but I destroyed this book. I don't believe that it should be read by anyone, ever. Kohn is not only closed-minded, offensive, and judgmental, he says things that show that he is obviously quite ignorant about the religions of which he is so critical. I will be posting to all of the Christian parenting sites that I belong to (and all that I can find, for that matter) to inform parents of his obvious anti-religious beliefs.

Posted On 12-30-2007 6:08 AM
Your Name: Marie
Comment: G Steele, according to information found within his books' intros, Mr. Kohn was an educator for many years and has done extensive research on his topics. It's odd that those facts aren't on his bio here.

Mr. Kohn, as an educator and parent, I can appreciate your views on learning. I agree wholeheartedly with many of your outlooks and wish more schools would incorporate their use.

Posted On 12-26-2007 7:21 PM
Your Name: G Steele
Email Address: steele.bear@gmail.com
How did you find our site?: News Article
Comment: I find it odd that you write books purporting to know how to make education better, yet you claim no credentials of any kind (not even so much as "concerned parent") to give me any reason to think I should read them.   Even your bio doesn't list anything except why there isn't any information.  I can write books and maybe might even get them published.  Some people may even read them if I publicize them.  But I have no credibility in the field because I have no credentials, even if my ideas have merit.

I certainly don't have time to read books (eleven of them!) if I can't be sure of a legitimate, knowledgeable view.  It would be a waste of time. 


Posted On 12-17-2007 7:57 AM
Your Name: Kathe Stoepel
Email Address: koff52@comcast.net
Location: Chicago
How did you find our site?: from book
Comment: Is there an existing group to join. Rather than just me against the school regarding homework? A way to mobilize?

Posted On 12-06-2007 10:48 PM
Your Name: Kelin I.O
Email Address: kelvinokeze@yahoo.com
Organization: Glendale, AZ
How did you find our site?: I am a repeat visitor and fan
Comment: Just got the new book, The Homework Myth, and look forward to adding more researched support to my understanding of the role of homework in my teaching practice. I have recently developed an aversion to assigning a lot of homework for the sake of assigning homework, and hopefully the book will shed light on why that is a positive.

Posted On 12-06-2007 8:33 PM
Your Name: Theresa
Organization: teacher
Location: San Diego
How did you find our site?: Steven Krashen mentioned it at a conference
Comment: Reading your book, The Homework Myth, provided me with the validation I have been seeking for fifteen years!  I pretty much nodded my head the entire time I read it!  Two years ago at a staff in-service, all of the teachers were asked to state how much homework a student should be given each night.  I was the ONLY one to say none.  People looked at me like I was insane.    I explained to them that students should read each night (for PLEASURE) and review anything (such as notes they've taken),   Other than that, we should be teaching them what they need to know during the school day . 

 As a mother, I have seen my sons bring home spelling words to write "five times each" when they already knew how to spell them.  They have had to do book reports that looked "pretty" but didn't teach them a thing (except that reading is not fun when you have to make a book report on a paper bag).  They have been given endless worksheets and busy work.   I would much rather them spend their time reading a book. playing basketball, going to youth group, or just hanging out with us!  The people that say hw teaches responsibility are basically insulting me as a parent.  My sons have plenty of responsibilities at home, on their sports teams, and in our church. 

As a teacher, I have assigned homework out of guilt (some parents made me feel like a bad teacher for not piling on the hw).  Of course, it was very frustrating when half of the students did a great job while others did everything incorrectly, and still others, didn't do it at all!

Thank you for providing the truth!  I am going to share your writings with anyone who questions my practices.  For some reason, some teachers equate assigning tons of hw to being a good and challenging teacher,  In the meantime, my students will continue to love my class and love learning!

 


Posted On 12-05-2007 7:57 AM
Your Name: shawn ross
Email Address: rsaeross@yahoo.com
Organization: parent
Location: maysville,ky
How did you find our site?: on the back cover of alfie's book
Comment:

 I feel very fortunate to have discovered your writings. Your philosophy has been both a blessing and a curse.  When I discuss topics such as homework and competition with others they look at me like I have 3 heads!  "Against homework?" "That's heresy!"  "Competition is the American way!" "Competition is the only way to bring out the best in people."  It also starts world wars.  Sometimes I look at what our society is doing to our children and its like watching hordes of people about to walk off an abyss and being powerless to stop them.  You have opened by my eyes and now there is no turning back.  I am an apostle for life.


Posted On 12-02-2007 8:15 PM
Your Name: Neil Chertcoff
Email Address: chertcoff1947@cs.com
Organization: LAWV
Location: Los Angeles
How did you find our site?: friends
Comment: Your philosophy of condemning all copetition plays into the hands of the powers-that-be. Every day teachers, parents, and others have their backs to the wall and are forced to 'compete' with the 'business community' and their 'bi-partisan' political minions to prevent the further defunding and overall decay of so many public schools. The rulers have all sorts of means to control the government and hence the curriculum of the public schools. The fight against making students mere numbers of test programmed robots is itself a form of competition. The organizing of ordinary workers in communities is a key form of fighting back against a system driven by profiteering and its own ruthless competition to stay on top. Such a system based on class antagonism has to control its waged slaves to stay on top. Opposition organized against this is also form of competition to end the exploitation and build non-exploitative social relations.

Posted On 12-02-2007 2:28 AM
Your Name: Doug Conkle
Comment: You help so many

Posted On 12-01-2007 9:50 PM
Your Name: Deb Warsaw
Email Address: marylandDeb@verizon.net
Organization: Green Acres School Parent
Location: Rockville, Maryland
How did you find our site?: google
Comment: Green Acres School is a model progressive school right outside of Washington DC. Homework does not start until 3rd grade and then it is gradually introduced. This allows children to be prepared for High School and College. The keys to success here are time management, organization and preparation. We have a lot of friends that send their kids to public schools where the teachers teach to the test and we call them 'no test left behind' organizations. There is no time to reflect or even explore the outdoors. What a shame.

Posted On 11-30-2007 7:48 AM
Your Name: Diane McNair
Email Address: di.mcnair@sbcglobal.net
Organization: Antioch USD/Lone Tree Elementary
Location: Antioch CA
How did you find our site?: Browsing for supporting evidence prior to parent/teacher conference.
Comment: I am so glad to have found your site.  I see the destructive effects that homework overload is causing to my children and family. I feel helpless when I approach teachers and administrators about the issue.  The information provided here gives me confidence that my perspective is not my imagination or a weekness.  Today I face the wrath of parent conferences, but now I am armed with backup.

Posted On 11-28-2007 1:36 PM
Your Name: Wyatt Friedman
Email Address: twf5jr2hotmail.com
Organization: school
Location: Baltimore,Md
How did you find our site?: Browsing for info for essay on Too Much Homework
Comment: Thank you so much you the best speaker ever.  I'm a student trying to lower homework and you give great arguments and facts.

Posted On 11-26-2007 7:57 PM
Your Name: Stephanie Andrews
Email Address: skandrews@mail.utexas.edu
Organization: UT Austin
Location: Austin, TX
How did you find our site?: AK\'s web address listed at the end of one of his articles
Comment: Thank you, thank you, thank you for speaking up on behalf of our children against the standardization nightmare!

Posted On 11-15-2007 9:56 PM
Your Name: Shelley Raker
Email Address: sraker@gmail.com
Location: Pennsylvania
How did you find our site?: I googled "Alfie Kohn"
Comment: You, Alfie, are my idol in perspective on education. I heard you speak at the Bi-lingual Ed. conference in San Antonio in 2005. I purchased a few of your books and had you sign them. I am so incredibly disappointed in what NCLB has created for the life of a public educator, and for students, in this country. I feel a deep sense of grief for the joy of teaching and learning that is being lost in this country. The antics that administrators are putting teachers and students through in an effort to bring up the standardized test scores are ridiculous. Yes, I care about student performance and quality education but NCLB is so misguided. I weep over it. Why did I study so long and hard, and get an advanced degree, if I am going to be asked to deliver a scripted curriculum? Every classroom is unique.......let me respond to the needs with the skills I have developed. It's starting to seem like an orangutan could follow the plan better than I.  Please, teacher unions, get on board and speak for us in Washington.........we're dying out here.  Alfie Kohn knows this and I thank him for it from the bottom of my heart.

Posted On 11-15-2007 11:44 AM
Your Name: Jacki Burris
Email Address: jacki.burris@roadrunner.com
Organization: Redlands University, CA
Location: CA
How did you find our site?: Alfie Kohn told me about it
Comment: I attended your lecture last night (11/14/07) and really took to heart your ideas. I'll admit, I was predisposed to agree with you because I have already studied your work and appreciate what I've learned from you. As an educator, I get so frustrated trying to "make my kids do activities because they're supposed to". I'm trying to find ways to engage my students so that they want to learn but I find it difficult in the standards/test driven structure my school operates under. Sometimes I feel like a robot putting the standards and objectives on the board and teaching what I'm told to teach. I purchased your book, Beyond Discipline, and look forward to learning new strategies for implementing classroom management built on caring relationships and guiding student learning in a student-driven environment.

Oh, and after your lecture, I was sad and astonished to hear my teacher credential program professor, who is also a practicing teacher, say, "That would never work in my classroom".   : (

Posted On 11-14-2007 12:09 PM
Your Name: Neil Chertcoff
Email Address: chertcoff1947@cs.com
Organization: Public school teacher
Location: Los Angeles
How did you find our site?: Through reading No Contest
Comment: In a highly stratified class society such as the U.S.,there exists definite class antagonisms.  If the working class is ever to liberate itself it must find ways to overcome the rule of the exploiters ideologically, economically and politically.  This process will necessarily evolve into forms of competition, i.e., class struggle, that workers must be prepared to engage in.  We accept that much of the competition promoted by the ruling class in their social institutions is destructive to our classroom students and society in general.  But isn't it imperative for the working class to compete against their rulers in order to put an end to the social relations of wage slavery?

Posted On 11-10-2007 10:59 AM
Your Name: David Thompson
Email Address: david_o_thompson@yahoo.com
Organization: Public Schools Educator
Location: Colorado
How did you find our site?: Accidentally
Comment: Re:  Homework Myth?

 Your mantra is reminiscent of that we hear from parents.  Fortunately, I do not subscribe to the theory that homework is counter-productive.  I have had too many students come to me who cannot read.  If it wasn't  for the 'homework' of practicing these skills every night, these students would grow up to be part of the illiterate sector of society which we have.  Not all homework is about better grades or character building; it can be about practice.


Posted On 11-08-2007 6:32 PM
Your Name: Dinu Chande
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
How did you find our site?: colleague
Comment:

While I agree completely that evaluating students with a number grade is a horrible thing to do to someone... either because they feel dumb if they get a low mark, or because they become dependent on praise and high marks for their self-esteem if they are a high achieving student.... but my question is:

What better mechanism do we have to sort our population to fulfil the needs of our economy?  Can an economy survive without a method of evaluating the strengths & weaknesses of its citizens?   

By the way, I'm hoping you can convince me that it is possible!


Posted On 11-06-2007 12:18 PM
Your Name: David Whitfield
Email Address: davidwhitfield@pifactory.net
Location: Portland, OR
How did you find our site?: The Homework Myth
Comment: I'm a high school math teacher who's totally convinced the Alfie Kohn approach must be the future. However, not everyone in my school agrees with my approach of no homework, no tests, no percentage-based grades... Are there any other math teachers out there with similar views/problems or success stories to tell? Anyone have recommendations on books with lots of ideas for an investigative high school math class? I post lots of my own math resources (mostly for free or pay what you like) at: http://pifactory.net + assessment descriptive feedback resources at: http://pifactory.net/catalog/assess_page_one.html Thanks DW

Posted On 11-05-2007 2:09 AM
Your Name: Raymond E. Higgenbottom, II
Email Address: rayh2y@yahoo.com
Location: Midwestern United States
How did you find our site?: Googled "Punished by Rewards"
Comment: I bought your book a number of years back and have it next to my computer. I have Asperger's Syndrome and have avoided the Behavior Programs that are associated with it. I am doing Sensory Integration Therapy. I am looking for little steps to rediscover my intrinsic motivation.

Posted On 11-03-2007 7:34 PM
Your Name: Rebecca Thompson
Email Address: rebecca@consciouslyparenting.com
Location: Land O Lakes, FL
How did you find our site?: Unconditional Parenting DVD
Comment: I cannot agree more with Alfie's work! ... The part I found was missing was implementation if you don't know what it looks like or you get stuck, as in the case of a child with a trauma history (and parent with a trauma history), such as children who have been adopted or experienced other life traumas. It is hard to unconditionally love someone who is throwing things at you (because they are really terrified). When we don't have the blueprints for what it looks like to parent this way or the support, it can be very difficult....

Posted On 11-01-2007 5:32 PM
Your Name: Seth
Email Address: mystery-machine@hotmail.com
Location: florida
How did you find our site?: The Homework Myth
Comment: I go to a good school and every year we take on a challenge. I wanted to help against homework and did research on it, leading me to a refrence to your book, The Homework Myth. I checked it out, and on the back, saw the address to here, alfiekohn.org. Thanks for the book. it helped my cause, but helpping darfur won. Oh well, thanks anyways!

Posted On 10-26-2007 12:35 PM
Your Name: Adrianna Hey
Email Address: Ellihey@aol.com
Location: New Hampshire
Comment: You have reaffirmed officially what I have known from a very early age. I am now 18 years old. I think all people have the vague idea that there are better ways to do thing when they are very young, but they quickly become buried in the rhetoric and the submission drills. What a relief, and easy to read, too!

Alfie's the man.:)


Posted On 10-26-2007 8:16 AM
Your Name: Alice Ward
Email Address: amward413@hotmail.com
Organization: TBD
Location: Milwaukee, WI
How did you find our site?: Internet Search After Reading "Schools Our Children..."
Comment: Oh my goodness!  You are a breath of fresh air!  I am an educator and most recently a teacher in a "Back to Basics" School.  I decided that what was going on there was not quite right.  I have decided to open my own school. 

 I purchased "The Schools Our Children Deserve" as a requirement of my master's program and discovered that I never really read it throughout the course.  I happen to go to my book shelf one day and pick it up again.  I haven't put it down since.  I am getting so many ideas about the framework of my school.  I am just struggling with how to describe what it is I am planning to others.  I will continue to read this book and your others and maybe it will all come to me.  I will be able to describe it in a couple of words.  It seems to be "montessori-like".  Do you have a simple description of it?  In the meantime I will keep reading and searching...

Thank You!  You have been a blessing to me!


Posted On 10-24-2007 2:26 PM
Your Name: Ally
How did you find our site?: Google
Comment: Thank you so, so much for creating these articles and books. This site really helps and you really seem to care about the things you bring up. Rock on!

 

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