EDUCATIONAL HORIZONS Fall 2004 Safety from the Inside Out Rethinking Traditional Approaches By Alfie Kohn For many people, the idea of safety in an educational context brings to mind the problem of school violence, and specifically the string of shootings at schools across the country in recent years. Let’s begin, then, by noting that the coverage of these events has … Read More
A Promise Unfulfilled: 150 Words on Brown v. Board
NASSP NewsLeader May 2004 A Promise Unfulfilled By Alfie Kohn Brown v. Board is a promise unfulfilled, a vision of racial justice unrealized. Segregation continues even as our society has become more diverse; disparities persist in the allocation of resources and the quality of education. Minority students are still more likely to get older books, larger classes, burnt-out teachers, and factory-style … Read More
Test Today, Privatize Tomorrow
PHI DELTA KAPPAN April 2004 Test Today, Privatize Tomorrow Using Accountability to “Reform” Public Schools to Death By Alfie Kohn I just about fell off my desk chair the other day when I came across my own name in an essay by a conservative economist who specializes in educational issues. The reason for my astonishment is that I was described … Read More
Rethinking Character Education: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Camp and Kids
CAMPING MAGAZINE September/October 2003 Rethinking Character Education: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Camping & Kids By Alfie Kohn A substantial number of people believe that camps can do more than provide an opportunity to have fun: They can also promote children’s social and moral growth. This explains the growing interest among American Camping Association members in the movement known as … Read More
The Folly of Merit Pay (**)
EDUCATION WEEK September 17, 2003 The Folly of Merit Pay By Alfie Kohn There’s no end to the possible uses for that nifty little Latin phrase Cui bono?, which means: Who benefits? Whose interests are served? It’s the right question to ask about a testing regimen guaranteed to make most public schools look as though they’re failing. Or about the assumption … Read More
Professors Who Profess (**)
KAPPA DELTA PI RECORD Spring 2003 Professors Who Profess Making a Difference as Scholar-Activists By Alfie Kohn The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum – even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free … Read More
State-Mandated Testing: Why We Opt Out
EDUCATION WEEK March 12, 2003 State-Mandated Testing: Why We Opt Out When it comes to testing mandates, we exercise our rights as parents to protect our children from activities not in their interests. By Catherine Ross Hamel & Fred L. Hamel When district- or state-mandated testing comes around in our children’s public schools, we opt out. We inform our kids’ … Read More
What Does It Mean to Be Well-Educated? (**)
PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP March 2003 [updated September 2015] What Does It Mean to Be Well-Educated? By Alfie Kohn No one should offer pronouncements about what it means to be well-educated without meeting my ex-wife. When I met her, she was at Harvard, putting the finishing touches on her doctoral dissertation in anthropology. A year later, having spent her entire life in … Read More
Almost There, But Not Quite (**)
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP March 2003 Almost There, But Not Quite By Alfie Kohn The late educational researcher John Nicholls once remarked to me that he had met a lot of administrators who “don’t want to hear a buzz of excitement in classrooms — they want to hear nothing.” His implication was that some teachers strive to keep tight control over students … Read More
How Not to Get Into College: The Preoccupation with Preparation
INDEPENDENT SCHOOL Winter 2002-03 How Not to Get Into College The Preoccupation with Preparation By Alfie Kohn Education…is a process of living and not a preparation for future living. — John Dewey In 1981, while I was teaching at an independent school, this journal published my very first article about education. It was an ironic commentary, perhaps a tad … Read More