On Teaching Reading, Spelling, and Related Subjects

Excerpts from The Schools Our Children Deserve (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999) On Teaching Reading, Spelling, and Related Subjects Half Truths About Whole Language By Alfie Kohn “Kids aren’t learning how to read these days because ivory-tower ideologues have eliminated the teaching of necessary basic skills in favor of feel-good, PC fads like Whole Language.  We’d do a lot better if we … Read More

What Works Better than Traditional Math Instruction

From Chapter 9: “Getting the 3 R’s Right” in The Schools Our Children Deserve (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999) What Works Better than Traditional Math Instruction Why the Basics Just Don’t Add Up By Alfie Kohn The still-dominant Old School model begins with the assumption that kids primarily need to learn “math facts”:  the ability to say “42” as soon as they hear … Read More

Moving Beyond Facts, Skills, and Right Answers

From Chapter 3: “Getting Teaching and Learning Wrong” in The Schools Our Children Deserve (Houghton Mifflin, 1999) Moving Beyond Facts, Skills, and Right Answers By Alfie Kohn The trouble with the Tougher Standards movement isn’t limited to its failure to understand the costs of overemphasizing achievement.  The movement is also vulnerable by virtue of the way it defines achievement.  The vast majority of policy makers … Read More

First Lesson: Unlearn How We Learned (commentary)

WASHINGTON POST October 10, 1999 First Lesson: Unlearn How We Learned By A Look At . . . Getting Back to Basics Alfie Kohn We are facing an educational emergency in this country. You’ve heard that claim before, of course, but this time there’s a twist: Much of the current crisis is the result of policies enacted in the name … Read More

Tougher Tests = Lower Standards

BOSTON GLOBE September 29, 1999 Tougher Tests = Lower Standards By Alfie Kohn Pronouncements about the need for school reform – along with decrees for how it must be done – issue regularly from Mount Olympus, where, as it happens, no children live. These declarations often contain phrases like ”tougher standards,” ”raising the bar,” and ”increased accountability.” But how do … Read More

Confusing Harder With Better (**)

EDUCATION WEEK September 15, 1999 Confusing Harder With Better By Alfie Kohn Never underestimate the power of a catchy slogan and a false dichotomy. When a politician pronounces himself a supporter of “law and order” or “a strong defense,” you may protest that it’s not that simple, but even as you start to explain why, you’ve already been dismissed as … Read More

The Trouble With “Back-to-Basics” and “Tougher Standards”

SCHOOL BOARD NEWS September 14, 1999 The Trouble With “Back-to-Basics” and “Tougher Standards” By Alfie Kohn How can we fix our failing schools? The question is heard frequently these days, but its premise is incorrect. Once we look beyond the scare headlines, we find that students in American schools are actually doing about as well as ever on standardized tests. … Read More

A Look at Maslow’s “Basic Propositions”

Originally published in Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming: Lessons Learned Edited by H. J. Freiberg  (Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 1999) A Look at Maslow’s “Basic Propositions” By Alfie Kohn Abraham Maslow was a bundle of paradoxes.  After writing a popular text on abnormal psychology, he turned to — and virtually initiated — the serious study of healthy people.  He apprenticed under some of the … Read More

Why Students Lose When Tougher Standards Win: A Conversation with Alfie Kohn

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP September 1999 Why Students Lose When Tougher Standards Win A Conversation with Alfie Kohn If students are to help design their own learning experiences and if teachers are to be free to develop a curriculum on the basis of their students’ needs, schools must buck the “Tougher Standards” movement, author Alfie Kohn says. John O’Neil and Carol Tell … Read More