PHI DELTA KAPPAN September 2006 Abusing Research The Study of Homework and Other Examples By Alfie Kohn Research, please forgive us. Our relationship with you is clearly dysfunctional. We proclaim to the world how much we care about you, yet we fail to treat you with the respect you deserve. We value you conditionally, listening only when you tell us … Read More
Punitive Damages
From UNCONDITIONAL PARENTING: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason (Atria, 2005) Punitive Damages By Alfie Kohn … To punish kids, very simply, is to make something unpleasant happen to them — or prevent them from experiencing something pleasant – usually with the goal of changing their future behavior. The punisher makes them suffer, in other words, to … Read More
Getting Hit on the Head Lessons (#)
EDUCATION WEEK September 7, 2005 Getting Hit on the Head Lessons Justifying Bad Educational Practices as Preparation for More of the Same By Alfie Kohn Suppose you have a negative reaction to a certain educational practice but you’re unable to come up with any good reasons to justify your opposition. All is not lost: You can always play the “human … Read More
The Trouble with Pure Freedom: A Case for Active Adult Involvement in Progressive Education
Alternative Education Resource Organization [AERO] Conference Keynote address, 2005 The Trouble with Pure Freedom A Case for Active Adult Involvement in Progressive Education By Alfie Kohn This transcript of Kohn’s talk was published in The Directory of Democratic Education, 2nd ed., edited by Dana M. Bennis and Isaac R. Graves. A video of the lecture is available here. In his opening comments, which … Read More
The (Progressive) Schools Our Children Deserve
SCHOOLS: Studies in Education Fall 2005 The (Progressive) Schools Our Children Deserve By Alfie Kohn [This is a transcript of the keynote address for a conference on progressive education sponsored by the School in Rose Valley and held at Swarthmore College on October 7, 2004.] I’m delighted to be with what I will presumptuously assume is a friendly crowd, such … Read More
Unconditional Teaching (#)
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP September 2005 Unconditional Teaching By Alfie Kohn Has there even been a wider, or more offensive, gap between educational rhetoric and reality than that which defines the current accountability fad? The stirring sound bites waft through the air: higher expectations … world-class standards … raising the bar … no child left behind. Meanwhile, educators and students down on … Read More
Pseudochoice
From Chapter 9: “Choices for Children” in Unconditional Parenting (Atria Books, 2005) Pseudochoice By Alfie Kohn Some parents and teachers talk about “choice” not in the context of allowing kids to have more say but rather as a way of blaming them for deliberately deciding to do something bad. A sentence such as “You chose to break the rule” amounts … Read More
Challenging Students . . . And How to Have More of Them (#)
PHI DELTA KAPPAN November 2004 Challenging Students . . . And How to Have More of Them By Alfie Kohn Learning by doing, a common shorthand for the idea that active participation helps students to understand ideas or acquire skills, is an established principle of progressive education. Much less attention, however, has been paid to the complementary possibility that teachers … Read More
Safety from the Inside Out (#)
EDUCATIONAL HORIZONS Fall 2004 Safety from the Inside Out Rethinking Traditional Approaches By Alfie Kohn For many people, the idea of safety in an educational context brings to mind the problem of school violence, and specifically the string of shootings at schools across the country in recent years. Let’s begin, then, by noting that the coverage of these events has … Read More
A Promise Unfulfilled: 150 Words on Brown v. Board
NASSP NewsLeader May 2004 A Promise Unfulfilled By Alfie Kohn Brown v. Board is a promise unfulfilled, a vision of racial justice unrealized. Segregation continues even as our society has become more diverse; disparities persist in the allocation of resources and the quality of education. Minority students are still more likely to get older books, larger classes, burnt-out teachers, and factory-style … Read More