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
Atrocious Advice from “Supernanny” (#)
THE NATION May 23, 2005 Atrocious Advice from “Supernanny” By Alfie Kohn [This is a slightly expanded version of the published article, which was titled “Supernanny State.”] Pour lire cet article en français, cliquer ici. Para ler esse artigo em Português, clique aqui A despot welcomes a riot. Disorder provides an excuse to rescind liberties in order to restore calm. There are … Read More
Parental Discipline and Race
From the Appendix (“Parenting Styles: The Relevance of Culture, Class, and Race”) to Unconditional Parenting (Atria Books, 2005) Copyright © 2005 by Alfie Kohn Parental Discipline and Race By Alfie Kohn ….Needless to say, differences in discipline styles occur not only across cultures but among groups within a single culture, particularly when we’re talking about a complex modern society such … Read More
A Different View
GREATER GOOD Spring-Summer 2005 A Different View Helping Children to See the World from Another’s Perspective By Alfie Kohn [This article is adapted from the book Unconditional Parenting] Franz Kafka once described war as a “monstrous failure of imagination.” In order to kill, one must cease to see individual human beings and instead reduce them to an abstraction: … 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
Falls Church School Won’t Teach to the Test
Washington Post Tuesday, October 12, 2004; Page B01 Falls Church School Won’t Teach to the Test By Marc Fisher Teachers grumble and moan about how politicians’ love affair with tests has turned education into a grim mission to teach creative young minds how to darken the ovals completely and neatly. Parents complain about the lost arts and athletics, the exciting … Read More
Feel-Bad Education: The Cult of Rigor and the Loss of Joy (#)
EDUCATION WEEK September 15, 2004 Feel-Bad Education The Cult of Rigor and the Loss of Joy By Alfie Kohn “Why are our schools not places of joy?” This question, posed by John Goodlad exactly 20 years ago, was both a summary of his landmark study of American classrooms and a plea for his readers to realize that a place called … Read More