Foreword to Ungrading 2020 Foreword Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), edited by Susan D. Blum (West Virginia University Press, 2020) By Alfie Kohn Three concepts emerged independently in different fields: quantum leaps (in particle physics), punctuated equilibrium (in evolutionary biology), and paradigm shifts (in the history of science). All converge on the revelation that … Read More
The Tests Are Lousy, So How Could the Scores Be Meaningful?
December 19, 2020 The Tests Are Lousy, So How Could the Scores Be Meaningful? By Alfie Kohn Way before Waze, I listened to traffic reports on my car radio whenever I had to drive to the airport. Over time I came to realize that the information they broadcast was frequently wrong: I’d be caught in a jam on a … Read More
Fame Is the Name of the Game
October 16, 2020 Fame Is the Name of the Game A Meditation on Why So Many People Dream of Being (or Even Just Meeting) Celebrities By Alfie Kohn “The question I get asked more than any other question: ‘If you had it to do again, would you have done it?’” Trump said of running for president. “The answer is, yeah, … Read More
All of Us Are Smarter Than Any of Us
September 23, 2020 All of Us Are Smarter Than Any of Us By Alfie Kohn The Western conception of the person as a bounded, unique, more or less integrated motivational and cognitive universe, a dynamic center of awareness, emotion, judgment, and action organized into a distinctive whole and set contrastively against both other such wholes and against its social and … Read More
Is Learning “Lost” When Kids Are Out of School?
BOSTON GLOBE September 6, 2020 Is Learning “Lost” When Kids Are Out of School? By Alfie Kohn Para leer este artículo en Español, haga clic aquí. Anguish and even anger are entirely appropriate reactions to the fact that Covid-19 infection rates are still too high in most areas to permit the safe reopening of schools. Not only do many of … Read More
The Pandemic Pivot
EDUCATION WEEK August 19, 2020 The Pandemic Pivot Turning Temporary Changes into Lasting Reform By Alfie Kohn You know you really should walk or bike more often, but the car is just so darned convenient. Then one day it breaks down and the replacement part won’t be available for quite awhile. The fates have conspired to get you some much-needed … Read More
Out of Control
May 21, 2020 Out of Control Taking Liberties with Autonomy During a Pandemic By Alfie Kohn Warren Buffett famously commented that when the tide goes out, we can finally see who has been swimming naked. By the same token, when a pandemic arrives, we are confronted with a vivid display of just what kind of society we’ve really had all … Read More
Autism and Behaviorism
January 21, 2020 Autism and Behaviorism New Research Adds to an Already Compelling Case Against ABA By Alfie Kohn When a common practice isn’t necessary or useful even under presumably optimal conditions, it’s time to question whether that practice makes sense at all. For example, if teachers don’t need to give grades even in high school (and if eliminating grades … Read More
How Not to Get a Standing Ovation at a Teachers’ Conference
October 24, 2019 How Not to Get a Standing Ovation at a Teachers’ Conference Rueful Reflections of a Long-Time Presenter By Alfie Kohn After speaking to a group of educators about, say, the harmful effects of standardized testing — and receiving an enthusiastic response — I am likely to hear from some spoilsport in the audience who wonders why I … Read More
It’s Time to Rethink Education Policy
October 15, 2019 It’s Time to Rethink Education Policy: Advice for the Democratic Presidential Candidates By Alfie Kohn More than 50 million children attend public elementary or secondary school in the U.S. The fact that so many voters spend so much time thinking about what happens to their kids in school means that the topic of education — specifically, what … Read More