PSYCHOLOGY TODAY June 1988 Are Humans Innately Aggressive? By Alfie Kohn Sigmund Freud tried to cure Viennese women of their neuroses, and Konrad Lorenz made his reputation studying birds, but the two men shared a belief that has become lodged in the popular consciousness. The belief is that we have within us, naturally and spontaneously, a reservoir of aggressive energy. … Read More
Mind Over Matter: Inside the Christian Science Church
NEW ENGLAND MONTHLY March 1988 Mind Over Matter Inside the Christian Science Church By Alfie Kohn A young man at the back of the room stands up, his pink shirt sleeves rolled back from his wrists, and everyone turns around to see him and hear his story. He describes how he awoke in the middle of the night several years … Read More
No Contest
INC. Magazine November 1987 No Contest By Alfie Kohn [This is a slightly expanded version of the original article.] Long before anyone was talking about team-building or Theory Z — less than a decade after World War II, in fact – a sociologist named Peter Blau compared two groups of interviewers at a public employment agency. Those in the first … Read More
The Case Against Competition
WORKING MOTHER September 1987 The Case Against Competition By Alfie Kohn When it comes to competition, we Americans typically recognize only two legitimate positions: enthusiastic support and qualified support. The first view holds that the more we immerse our children (and ourselves) in rivalry, the better. Competition builds character and produces excellence. The second stance admits that our society has … Read More
Attorney Relishes Unpopular Cases
BOSTON GLOBE April 13, 1987 Attorney Relishes Unpopular Cases By Alfie Kohn Leonard Weinglass, who represented Abbie Hoffman and three others at the Chicago 8 trial in 1969-70, is now defending Hoffman, Amy Carter [the former President’s daughter], and 13 other protesters who challenged the CIA’s presence at the University of Massachusetts last November. Weinglass took the case only because … Read More
We Interrupt This Tour…
NEW ENGLAND MONTHLY April 1987 We Interrupt This Tour… By Alfie Kohn Edgar F. Beckham, now in his fourteenth year as Dean of the College at Wesleyan University, is having trouble keeping still. He shifts his considerable bulk on the leather chair in his office once again and shakes his head. “Nothing has happened to me since I came here … Read More
Risking the Wind
NEW ENGLAND MONTHLY January 1987 Risking the Wind By Alfie Kohn They checked the weather forecast Friday morning because they always checked the forecast before a trip. When you take a 50‑footer all the way out to Georges Bank to catch lobster, you had better know what the seas are going to be like. Once you get far enough away … Read More
To Forget Is Human; To Forgive, Tragic
NEW ENGLAND MONTHLY April 1986 To Forget Is Human; To Forgive, Tragic By Alfie Kohn “Meredith can breath[e] again” was how the local newspaper, the Meredith, N.H. News, put it in a front page editorial on March 1, 1951. “Meredith can indeed feel fortunate that an old established firm with an outstanding record of…excellent working conditions chose this community…” Meredith Linen … Read More
Stop!: An Analysis of Boston Driving
BOSTON MAGAZINE September 1985 Stop! An Analysis of Boston Driving By Alfie Kohn What you’ve always suspected is absolutely true. Boston is the most dangerous U.S. city in which to drive. One in five insured Boston drivers put in a claim for collision in 1983. The runner-up was New York City, where the rate was a paltry one in eight. You can … Read More
Struggling Toward Literacy
BOSTON GLOBE MAGAZINE September 1, 1985 Struggling Toward Literacy By Alfie Kohn Priscilla is buying food without much sugar these days. Neither her tastes nor her attitude has suddenly changed. It’s just that until recently she couldn’t read the labels in the supermarket. Her diet has improved because she is, at the age of 47, finally struggling toward literacy. One … Read More