THE NATION December 29, 2008 Beware of School “Reformers” By Alfie Kohn “If we taught babies to talk as most skills are taught in school, they would memorize lists of sounds in a predetermined order and practice them alone in a closet.” — Linda Darling-Hammond Political progressives are in short supply on the president-elect’s list of cabinet nominees. When he … Read More
Por Qué Está Sobrevalorada La Autodisciplina
PHI DELTA KAPPAN Noviembre 2008 Por qué está sobrevalorada la autodisciplina La (inquietante) teoría y práctica del control desde dentro Por Alfie Kohn Si hay un rasgo del carácter por cuyos beneficios hayan abogado tanto los educadores tradicionales como los progresistas, bien pudiera ser la autodisciplina. Casi todo el mundo quiere que los estudiantes hagan caso omiso de sus impulsos … Read More
Why Self-Discipline Is Overrated (#)
PHI DELTA KAPPAN November 2008 Why Self-Discipline Is Overrated: The (Troubling) Theory and Practice of Control from Within By Alfie Kohn Para leer este artículo en Español, haga clic aquí Pour lire cet article en français, cliquer ici. For an extended and updated discussion of this topic, please see chapter 7 of the book The Myth of the Spoiled Child. If there is … Read More
It’s Not What We Teach; It’s What They Learn (#)
EDUCATION WEEK September 10, 2008 It’s Not What We Teach; It’s What They Learn By Alfie Kohn I never understood all the fuss about that old riddle – “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear, does it still make a sound?” Isn’t it just a question of how we choose to define the … Read More
Early Childhood Education: The Case Against Direct Instruction of Academic Skills (#)
From Appendix A: “The Hard Evidence” in The Schools Our Children Deserve (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1999) Early Childhood Education: The Case Against Direct Instruction of Academic Skills By Alfie Kohn “The earlier [that schools try] to inculcate so-called ‘academic’ skills, the deeper the damage and the more permanent the ‘achievement’ gap.” — Deborah Meier Some of the most ambitious and expensive educational … Read More
Progressive Education (#)
INDEPENDENT SCHOOL Spring 2008 Progressive Education Why It’s Hard to Beat, But Also Hard to Find By Alfie Kohn RELATED PUBLICATIONS: * “What to Look for in a Classroom” (table) * “A Dozen Basic Guidelines for Educators” (list) * “The Trouble with Pure Freedom” (lecture) * “The Back-to-School-Night Speech We’d Like to Hear” (fantasy presentation) If progressive education doesn’t lend itself to a … Read More
Are Fewer Young People Reading for Pleasure?
November 2007 Are Fewer Young People Reading for Pleasure? By Alfie Kohn Several years ago, a teacher who regularly invited her students to “drop everything and read” their favorite books was asked by a colleague whether she was still setting aside class time for that purpose. She replied, “We haven’t been doing any reading since we started preparing the kids … Read More
Who’s Cheating Whom? (#)
PHI DELTA KAPPAN October 2007 Who’s Cheating Whom? By Alfie Kohn An article about cheating practically writes itself. It must begin, of course, with a shocking statistic or two to demonstrate the pervasiveness of the problem, perhaps accompanied by a telling anecdote or a quotation from a shrugging student (“Well, sure, everyone does it”). This would be followed by a … Read More
Close the Book on ‘Book It!’
March 2007 Close the Book on ‘Book It!’ By Alfie Kohn I once asked the late John Nicholls, an expert on motivation and achievement, for his assessment of Pizza Hut’s “Book It!” program, which uses fast food as a reward for reading. Nicholls dryly observed that the most likely result would be “a lot of fat kids who don’t like … Read More
The Trouble with Rubrics (#)
ENGLISH JOURNAL March 2006 — vol. 95, no. 4 The Trouble with Rubrics By Alfie Kohn Once upon a time I vaguely thought of assessment in dichotomous terms: The old approach, which consisted mostly of letter grades, was crude and uninformative, while the new approach, which included things like portfolios and rubrics, was detailed and authentic. Only much later did … Read More