Caring Kids: The Role of the Schools (*)

PHI DELTA KAPPAN March 1991 Caring Kids The Role of the Schools By Alfie Kohn “Education worthy of the name is essentially education of character,” the philosopher Martin Buber told a gathering of teachers in 1939.(1) In saying this, he presented a challenge more radical and unsettling than his audience may have realized. He did not mean that schools should … Read More

Do Religious People Help More? Not So You’d Notice

PSYCHOLOGY TODAY December 1989 Do Religious People Help More? Not So You’d Notice By Alfie Kohn [This is a slightly expanded version of the published article.]  In a society that teaches us to associate morality with religion, it is easy to assume that a strong relationship exists between piety and pity, between God and good. After all, the sacred texts of … Read More

Altruism Within Egoism (Book Review)

THE NATION May 29, 1989 Altruism Within Egoism By Alfie Kohn Review of: PASSIONS WITHIN REASON: The Strategic Role of the Emotions By Robert H. Frank.  Norton.  304 pp. Also discussed in this review: ECONOMICS FOR A CIVILIZED SOCIETY.  By Greg Davidson and Paul Davidson. Norton.  213 pp. THE MORAL DIMENSION: Toward a New Economics.  By Amitai Etzioni. Free Press.  … Read More