Alfie Kohn
Alfie Kohn
Alfie Kohnis an American author and lecturer in the areas of education, parenting, and human behavior. He is a proponent of progressive education and has offered critiques of many traditional aspects of parenting, managing, and American society more generally, drawing in each case from social science research...
ProfessionNon-Fiction Author
Date of Birth15 October 1957
two numbers trying
Trying to be number one and trying to do a task well are two different things.
two excellence victory
Trying to do well and trying to beat others are two different things. Excellence and victory are conceptually distinct . . . and are experienced differently.
unconditional-love enthusiasm helping
If unconditional love and genuine enthusiasm are present, praise isn't necessary. If they're absent, praise won't help.
curriculum students force
To control students is to force them to accommodate to a preestablished curriculum.
tasks students pleasure
Grades dilute the pleasure that a student experiences on successfully completing a task.
legacy behaviorism
The Legacy of Behaviorism: Do this and you'll get that.
firsts basics bigs
We learn most readily, most naturally, most effectively, when we start with the big picture - precisely when the basics don't come first.
assessment expectations students
Assessments should compare the performance of students to a set of expectations, never to the performance of other students.
teacher teaching learning
The overwhelming number of teachers ...are unable to name or describe a theory of learning that underlies what they do.
punishment people age
It's not just that humiliating people, of any age, is a nasty and disrespectful way of treating them. It's that humiliation, like other forms of punishment, is counterproducti ve. 'Doing to' strategies -- as opposed to those that might be described as 'working with' -- can never achieve any result beyond temporary compliance, and it does so at a disturbing cost.
caring knowing helpful
What can we surmise about the likelihood of someone's being caring and generous, loving and helpful, just from knowing that they are a believer? Virtually nothing, say psychologists, sociologists, and others who have studied that question for decade
connections students thoughtfulness
John Dewey reminded us that the value of what students do 'resides in its connection with a stimulation of greater thoughtfulness, not in the greater strain it imposes.
accomplishment people healthy
Those who know they're valued irrespective of their accomplishments often end up accomplishing quite a lot. It's the experience of being accepted without conditions that helps people develop a healthy confidence in themselves, a belief that it's safe to take risks and try new things.
issues doe pay
If rewards do not work, what does? I recommend that employers pay workers well and fairly and then do everything possible to help them forget about money. A preoccupation with money distracts everyone - employers and employees - from the issues that really matter.