September 30, 2022 Is It Enough for Learners to Be “Engaged”? By Alfie Kohn “To enhance achievement, one must first learn how to engage students.” That challenge by Fred Newmann, emeritus professor of education at the University of Wisconsin,1 could serve as the motto for an entire movement by thoughtful theorists, researchers, and practitioners in the field. And it makes … Read More
Why Feedback Often Doesn’t Help
EDUCATION WEEK September 21, 2022 Why Feedback Often Doesn’t Help By Alfie Kohn [This is an expanded version of the published article, which was given a different title.] A lot of people make a living by offering advice about how teachers should give feedback to students — or how administrators should give feedback to teachers. Unfortunately, a body of compelling … Read More
When the Myth of Progress Unravels
May 16, 2022 When the Myth of Progress Unravels By Alfie Kohn The arc of history is long, but it bends toward catastrophic annihilation. — Barbara Ehrenreich The fact that five religious Supreme Court justices have eliminated women’s right to terminate a pregnancy — a protection representing “a half-century of progress toward a more equal society” — has … Read More
Last Time, the Religious Right Told Us Not Only What We Can Teach but How
April 29, 2022 Last Time, the Religious Right Told Us Not Only What We Can Teach but How to Teach It By Alfie Kohn Christian conservatives are banning books and censoring school curricula — and not for the first time. Materials dealing with sexuality and sexual orientation have always been popular targets for them; indeed, researchers have found that literally … Read More
Cooperative Games: Discovering How Much Fun Competition ISN’T
Foreword to Cooperative Games 2022 Cooperative Games Discovering How Much Fun Competition Isn’t By Alfie Kohn [This essay is adapted from the Foreword to Cooperative Games in Education by Suzanne Lyons (Teachers College Press, 2022)] The reassuring bromide that “there’s no such thing as a stupid question” can be easily refuted by spending a few minutes with a standardized … Read More
Second Thoughts About Community and “Empathy”
January 11, 2022 Second Thoughts About Community and “Empathy” By Alfie Kohn We’re too quick to ascribe neutrality to things that actually aren’t neutral at all. Standardized tests, for example, don’t provide anything like an objective “snapshot” of teaching and learning. Not only are they best at measuring relatively trivial intellectual capabilities, but administering them influences what gets taught, thereby … Read More
Indoctrination
November 4, 2021 Indoctrination By Alfie Kohn Some years ago I gave a talk in which I outlined classroom practices that can promote caring and cooperation. When I was done, a woman stood up and informed me heatedly that she doesn’t send her child to school “to learn to be nice.” That, she said, would be “social engineering.” Besides, she … Read More
What Makes a True Skeptic?
September 24, 2021 What Makes a True Skeptic? By Alfie Kohn Imagine that you’ve spent a good part of your life vigorously defending a certain idea, only to hear that idea being invoked to justify something you find abhorrent. Perhaps you’re a strong supporter of academic freedom and a believer in considering multiple points of view — and then you … Read More
The Case Against Classroom Management . . . a Quarter-Century Later
EDUCATION WEEK September 22, 2021 The Case Against Classroom Management… a Quarter-Century Later By Alfie Kohn I often urge noneducators to ponder the versatility and resilience that have been asked of teachers during the pandemic. Just think about all that’s required to sustain relationships with, let alone educate, dozens of students who have been reduced to so many squares on … Read More
When Racism Isn’t the Only Problem
July 14, 2021 When Racism Isn’t the Only Problem By Alfie Kohn I’ve been thinking lately about policies that are multiply flawed. Drilling for oil in the Arctic Refuge is a bad idea not only because it threatens wildlife but also because it exacerbates the climate crisis. Diverting taxpayer funds to religious schools undermines public education while simultaneously breaching the … Read More