A Look at Maslow’s “Basic Propositions”

Originally published in Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming: Lessons Learned Edited by H. J. Freiberg  (Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 1999) A Look at Maslow’s “Basic Propositions” By Alfie Kohn Abraham Maslow was a bundle of paradoxes.  After writing a popular text on abnormal psychology, he turned to — and virtually initiated — the serious study of healthy people.  He apprenticed under some of the … Read More

Why Students Lose When Tougher Standards Win: A Conversation with Alfie Kohn

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP September 1999 Why Students Lose When Tougher Standards Win A Conversation with Alfie Kohn If students are to help design their own learning experiences and if teachers are to be free to develop a curriculum on the basis of their students’ needs, schools must buck the “Tougher Standards” movement, author Alfie Kohn says. John O’Neil and Carol Tell … Read More

Introduction to What to Look for in a Classroom … and Other Essays

San Francisco Jossey-Bass, 1998 Introduction to What to Look for in a Classroom … and Other Essays By Alfie Kohn From 1979 until 1985, I taught a course on existentialism to high school students.  It was not my only teaching experience but it was far and away my favorite.  Between terms, I fine-tuned the reading list and perfected the lectures, looking … Read More

How Not to Teach Values: A Critical Look at Character Education (*)

PHI DELTA KAPPAN February 1997 How Not to Teach Values A Critical Look at Character Education By Alfie Kohn Teachers and schools tend to mistake good behavior for good character. What they prize is docility, suggestibility; the child who will do what he is told; or even better, the child who will do what is wanted without even having to … Read More

Punished by Rewards?: A Conversation with Alfie Kohn

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP September 1995 Punished by Rewards? A Conversation with Alfie Kohn By Ron Brandt Both rewards and punishments, says Punished by Rewards author Alfie Kohn, are ways of manipulating behavior that destroy the potential for real learning. Instead, he advocates providing an engaging curriculum and a caring atmosphere “so kids can act on their natural desire to find out.” The following … Read More

The Truth About Self-Esteem (*)

PHI DELTA KAPPAN December 1994 The Truth About Self-Esteem By Alfie Kohn [For an updated and expanded review of the research on this topic, please see chapter 6 (“The Attack on Self-Esteem”) of The Myth of the Spoiled Child, published in 2014.]   The very act of “debating” a controversial issue tends to reduce the number of possible positions to … Read More

Turning Learning Into A Business: Concerns About ‘Quality Management’ at School (*)

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP September 1993 Turning Learning Into A Business Concerns About “Quality Management” at School By Alfie Kohn Every few years a new idea captures the imagination of educators and suddenly seems to be everywhere at once.  The journals are filled with breathless accounts of its importance, a cadre of consultants materializes to offer workshops and trainings, and a new … Read More

Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide (*)

PHI DELTA KAPPAN September 1993 Choices for Children Why and How to Let Students Decide By Alfie Kohn The essence of the demand for freedom is the need of conditions which will enable an individual to make his own special contribution to a group interest, and to partake of its activities in such ways that social guidance shall be a … Read More

Changing Education from the Inside Out

May 1993 Changing Education from the Inside Out Four Books from the 1990s Illuminate Progressive Schooling By Alfie Kohn [NOTE:  This review-essay was never published. You may judge for yourself whether it – and the books under review – are still relevant several decades later.]   EDUCATION AS ADVENTURE: Lessons from the Second Grade. By John G. Nicholls and Susan … Read More