May 23, 2011 What Parents Aren’t Asked in School Surveys — and Why By Alfie Kohn The results of an opinion poll will vary — and not by a little — as a function of how the questions are phrased. “Do you favor special preferences for minorities in the form of affirmative action?” will attract many fewer favorable responses than … Read More
Poor Teaching for Poor Children … in the Name of Reform (##)
EDUCATION WEEK April 27, 2011 Poor Teaching for Poor Children … in the Name of Reform By Alfie Kohn [This is a slightly expanded version of the published article.] Love them or hate them, the proposals collectively known as “school reform” are mostly top-down policies: divert public money to quasi-private charter schools, pit states against one another in a race … Read More
“Well, Duh!” — 10 Obvious Truths That We Shouldn’t Be Ignoring
AMERICAN SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL April 2011 “Well, Duh!” — Ten Obvious Truths That We Shouldn’t Be Ignoring By Alfie Kohn The field of education bubbles over with controversies. It’s not unusual for intelligent people of good will to disagree passionately about what should happen in schools. But there are certain precepts that aren’t debatable, that just about anyone would have … Read More
Studies Support Rewards, Homework, and Traditional Teaching. Or Do They? (##)
March 31, 2011 Studies Support Rewards, Homework, and Traditional Teaching. Or Do They? By Alfie Kohn It’s not unusual to read that a new study has failed to replicate — or has even reversed — the findings of an earlier study. The effect can be disconcerting, particularly when medical research announces that what was supposed to be good for us … Read More
“But I Need to Assign Homework! Look at All I Have to Cover!”
THE HUFFINGTON POST March 3rd 2011 “But I Need to Assign Homework! Look at All I Have to Cover!” By Alfie Kohn A parent wrote me today to express her frustration not only with homework but with the response she hears from teachers when she complains about homework. Even those teachers who are sufficiently knowledgeable and brave to admit that research … Read More
STEM Sell: Do Math and Science Matter More Than Other Subjects? (##)
February 16, 2011 STEM Sell Are Math and Science Really More Important Than Other Subjects? By Alfie Kohn What’s the single most alarming educational crisis today? That’s easy. It’s our failure to pay more attention to the academic field of whichever educator happens to be speaking at the moment. Just listen, then, and learn that while there may be other … Read More
Do Tests Help Students Learn or Was a New Study Misreported? (##)
January 28, 2011 Do Tests Really Help Students Learn or Was a New Study Misreported? By Alfie Kohn The relationship between educational policies and educational research is both fascinating and disturbing. Sometimes policy makers, including those who piously invoke the idea of “data-driven” practice, pursue initiatives that they favor regardless of the fact that there is no empirical support for … Read More
“Politically Correct”: The Lazy Bully’s Label of Choice
January 18, 2011 “Politically Correct”: The Lazy Bully’s Label of Choice By Alfie Kohn If there is a verbal equivalent of a drive-by shooting, it must be the use of that nasty epithet “politically correct.” At best, this is a label that allows the intellectually lazy to denigrate anything they don’t like without having to offer a reasoned objection. Its political implications, … Read More
Remember When We Had High Standards? Neither Do I (##)
December 10, 2010 Remember When We Had Higher Standards? Neither Do I By Alfie Kohn “In recent years, parents have cried in dismay that their children could not read out loud, could not spell, could not write clearly,” while “employers have said that mechanics could not read simple directions. Many a college has blamed high schools for passing on students…who … Read More
“Ready to Learn” = Easier to Educate (##)
November 18, 2010 “Ready to Learn” = Easier to Educate By Alfie Kohn The phrase “ready to learn,” frequently applied to young children, is rather odd when you stop to think about it, because the implication is that some kids aren’t. Have you ever met a child who wasn’t ready to learn — or, for that matter, already learning like … Read More