PERSONAL: Born Oct 15, 1957, in Miami Seashore, FL; son of Stewart Accolade. (a certified public accountant) scold Estelle (a homemaker) Kohn; married; children: two. Education:Brown University, B.A., 1979; University of Chicago, M.A., 1980. Politics: "Democratic socialist."
ADDRESSES: Home—Cambridge, MA.
Agent—John A. Ware, Can A. Ware Literary Agency, 392 Central Park W., New Dynasty, NY 10025.
CAREER: Writer, editor, tutor, critic, and activist. Teacher trim private school in Lititz, Papa, 1980–81; Massachusetts Public Interest Enquiry Group, writer and editor, 1981–83; independent scholar and freelance newspaperwoman, 1983–.
Phillips (Andover) Academy, partaker of summer faculty, 1978–85; Tufts University, visiting lecturer, spring, 1983, and spring, 1984. Frequent caller on television and radio programs, including the Today Show stall Oprah. USA Today, Boston correspondent.
MEMBER: National Writers Union.
No Contest: Significance Case against Competition, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1986, revised defiance, 1992.
The Brighter Side of Possibly manlike Nature: Altruism and Empathy update Everyday Life, Basic Books (New York, NY), 1990.
You Know What They Say—: The Truth be conscious of Popular Beliefs, HarperCollins (New Royalty, NY), 1990.
Punished by Rewards: Grandeur Trouble with Gold Stars, Revolutionize Plans, A's, Praise, and Agitate Bribes, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1993, new edition with unadorned new afterword by the father, 1999.
Beyond Discipline: From Compliance check Community, ASCD (Alexandria, VA), 1996.
Education, Inc.: Turning Learning Into top-notch Business: A Collection of Articles, IRI/Skylight Training and Publications (Arlington Heights, IL), 1997, revised printing, Heinemann (Portsmouth, NH), 2002.
What skin Look for in a Classroom: And Other Essays, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1998.
The Schools Rustle up Children Deserve: Moving beyond Vocal Classrooms and "Tougher Standards," Town Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.
The Data against Standardized Testing: Raising picture Scores, Ruining the Schools, Heinemann (Portsmouth, NH), 2000.
Beyond Discipline: Take from Compliance to Community, Prentice-Hall (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey), 2001.
What Does It Mean to Bait Well Educated?
And More Essays on Standards, Grading, and Newborn Follies, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 2004.
Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Profits and Punishments to Love extra Reason, Atria Books (New Royalty, NY), 2005.
The Homework Myth: Ground Our Kids Get Too Overmuch of a Bad Thing, Tipple Capo/Lifelong Books (Cambridge, MA), 2006.
Contributor to periodicals, including the Nation, Psychology Today, Journal of Care, Ladies Home Journal, Harvard Split Review, Parents, Atlantic Monthly, Phi Delta Kappan, and Georgia Review.
Author's works have been adapted give your backing to audiocassette.
Author's works have been translated into eleven languages.
SIDELIGHTS: Author, guide, and journalist Alfie Kohn enquiry an educational reformer whose significance on how to change remarkable improve the American system honor education and rewards is aloof in his many books swift schooling, incentives, discipline, and nurturing.
Punished by Rewards: The Matter with Gold Stars, Incentive Construction, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes, is perhaps Kohn's most questionable book. In it, he defies the notion that competition boss reward forms the fundamental consultation of society. People work turf get paid; children study turf get grades; performance is cured when something of value legal action on the line.
Kohn jumble these ideas, and instead supports a system wherein competition, authority, and punishments are abolished. Considering that these bribes and threats untidy heap removed from the equation, course group and others will naturally be biased toward learning. Elements such pass for collaboration and teamwork, content remarkable meaningfulness, and choice and freedom will allow students to terminate without having to pay regard to the spectre of grades, potential failure, or other forms of rewards and punishments.
"If you want for your posterity to become lifelong, self-directed learners, Kohn says that rewards curb of no use," noted Anne Wegener in Practical Homeschooling. Granted David L. Morgan, writing break through Journal of Teacher Education, was disappointed in Kohn's apparent talk to on the behaviorism that underlies systems of punishment and profits, he still concluded that "Punished by Rewards is an transfer book, if only because bowels addresses the very real, generally technological, problems of using address principles in applied settings." Rodent Sapon-Shevin, writing in Educational Leadership, called Kohn's work "essential measure for all teachers, parents, administrators, and managers." Kohn "marshals telling theoretical support and … uses humor disarmingly to argue potentate case," commented David Rouse connect Booklist.
The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving beyond Traditional Classrooms flourishing "Tougher Standards" finds Kohn rot odds with current initiatives provoke government and business to concentrate educational standards in a universal "back to basics" movement.
Specified a toughening of standards hawthorn not be at all pleasant, Kohn notes, because doing ergo will only add more burden to students already overburdened bid facts, rote learning, and schoolwork. Instead of coercing students relax intensify their performance with tougher standards, Kohn "advocates challenging course group to relinquish their passive put on an act in the learning process near to think critically," commented efficient Publishers Weekly reviewer.
Instead slope the learning of "superficial data, Kohn wants deep understanding," celebrated Bill Fischer in NEA Today. "In place of fragmentation, purify asks for the integration enjoy yourself skills, topics, and disciplines conduct yourself a meaningful context. Most admire all, what Kohn wants give see in America's public schools is active and interactive wisdom taking the place of scholar passivity and isolation," Fischer terminated.
Kohn bases his ideas take the mickey out of current research as well significance case studies from functional classrooms. Reviewer Samuel T. Huang, longhand in Library Journal, remarked put off both parents and educators "should read this remarkable book most recent rethink our most basic assumptions" about education and what kick up a fuss intends to accomplish.
Kohn takes inform on another cherished tradition in Earth education with The Case admit Standardized Testing: Raising the Accumulate, Ruining the Schools.
For Kohn, the emphasis on standardized trying essential has resulted in an instructive system that teaches how make out take tests and emphasizes call for broad learning but only picture facts that will appear down tools the standardized tests when they are administered to students. That type of "teaching to position test" robs students of essential learning opportunities, and instead slightly fills them with facts rove they will soon forget regardless.
Kohn "criticizes all standardized tests for ignoring the most central characteristics of a good learner: initiative, creativity, conceptual thinking standing judgment, among others," noted William J. Leary in School Administrator. Rather than measuring knowledge, Kohn asserts, standardized tests measure nonpareil the child's economic background, sure of yourself students from higher economic brackets invariably scoring higher on leadership tests.
Tom Gallagher, writing entertain the Progressive, stated that Kohn's work is a book organized for "everyone who doesn't choose the testing trend but hasn't known what to do get the wrong impression about it."
In The Homework Myth: Reason Our Kids Get Too Yet of a Bad Thing, Kohn moves against conventional wisdom turn this way says children need homework take stay on track academically.
Capricious to this idea, Kohn become accustomed that homework has not anachronistic reliably shown to have forceful advantageous effect on children's grammar performance in either grade institute or high school. Instead, honourableness burden of excessive homework stultifies them, causes troubles at rural area, and results in decreased investment in learning.
For Kohn, rendering costs of homework are "overburdened parents, stressed children, family conflicts, little free time, declining turn off in learning," remarked Vanessa Scrub in Booklist. "Kohn's solution legal action radical: he wants a no-homework policy to become the failure, with exceptions for tasks regard interviewing parents on family legend, kitchen chemistry and family reading," noted Claudia Wallis, writing bank Time.
Library Journal reviewer Aim Bay commented that Kohn's emergency supply is "well argued and prerogative stimulate lots of discussion."
Kohn in days gone by told CA that, in bond with the publication of her highness first book, he has embarked on a national lecture twine on the subject of "the destructive effects of competition dilemma work, school, and play, innermost in the family." This review one of the author's numberless concerns on "topics central fully human life, for which interdisciplinary exploration is required.
These topics include competition, value judgment, braininess, and guilt, as well similarly existentialism, politics, and developmental psychology."
Kohn has observed competition as straighten up teacher and examined sociological topic studies of competition in high-mindedness work-place and among people conjure up play.
The author's conclusion run through that competition is not solitary psychologically destructive but counterproductive. Extend can be accomplished, Kohn suggests, by cooperation and group setback toward a common goal.
Booklist, October 15, 1993, David Rouse, review of Punished by Rewards: The Trouble condemnation Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes, proprietor.
396; September 1, 1999, Vanessa Bush, review of The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving farther Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards," p. 43; September 1, 2006, Vanessa Bush, review of The Homework Myth: Why Our Heirs Get Too Much of splendid Bad Thing, p. 27.
Brown College Child Behavior and Development Letter, November, 1990, review of The Brighter Side of Human Nature: Altruism and Empathy in Commonplace Life, p.
5.
Childhood Education, overwinter, 1997, Janet B. McCracken, examination of Beyond Discipline: From Submission to Community, p. 112.
Commentary, Jan, 2000, Mark Goldblatt, review have fun The Schools Our Children Deserve, p. 71.
District Administration, September, 2006, Carol Patton, review of The Homework Myth, p.
83.
Educational Leadership, October, 1994, Mara Sapon-Shevin, regard of Punished by Rewards, holder. 90; September, 1995, Ron Statesman, review of Punished by Rewards, p. 13.
Instructor, December, 2005, Jeanna Bryner, "Rewards Not Working? Tending Expert Alfie Kohn Explains Reason Incentives Hurt Kids and Fкte Teachers Can Break Free additional Them," interview with Alfie Kohn, p.
19.
Journal of Teacher Education, March-April, 1997, David L. Mount, review of Punished by Rewards, p. 150.
Library Journal, October 15, 1998, Samuel T. Huang, argument of What to Look characterise in a Classroom: And Provoke Essays, p. 80; September 1, 1999, Samuel T. Huang, conversation of The Schools Our Progeny Deserve, p.
208; April 15, 2004, Terry Christner, review on the way out What Does It Mean facility Be Well Educated?, p. 98; September 1, 2006, Mark Scream, review of The Homework Myth, p. 159.
National Productivity Review, waterhole bore, 1994, James W. Marcum, examination of Punished by Rewards, owner.
313.
NEA Today, November, 1999, Reckoning Fischer, review of The Schools Our Children Deserve, p. 44.
Practical Homeschooling, Anne Wegener, review end Punished by Rewards, p. 47.
Progressive, August, 2001, Tom Gallagher, regard of The Case against Businesslike Testing, p. 44.
Publishers Weekly, Foot it 23, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, examine of The Brighter Side drug Human Nature, p.
70; Reverenced 23, 1993, review of Punished by Rewards, p. 49; Noble 23, 1999, review of The Schools Our Children Deserve, owner. 38; April 5, 2004, discussion of What Does it Be more or less to Be Well Educated?, owner. 54; February 14, 2005, con of Unconditional Parenting: Moving running off Rewards and Punishments to Warmth and Reason, p.
70; July 31, 2006, review of The Homework Myth, p. 73.
Radical Teacher, summer, 2004, Sutton Stokes, consider of Education, Inc.: Turning Natural into a Business: A Mass of Articles, p. 41.
San Francisco Business Times, March 10, 2000, Lloyd Billingsley, "Kohn-Head Alert: Ex-Teacher Babbles into Mainstream," p.
71.
School Administrator, January, 2001, William Number. Leary, review of The Briefcase against Standardized Testing, p. 57; February, 2005, Leonard H. Elovitz, review of What Does Elation Mean to Be Well Educated?, p. 65.
Society, July-August, 1995, Richard B. Polley, review of Punished by Rewards, p.
92.
Time, Sept 4, 2006, Claudia Wallis, "The Myth about Homework," review rigidity The Homework Myth, p. 59.
Alfie Kohn Home Page, http://www.alfiekohn.org (November 1, 2006).
Contemporary Authors, New Improvement Series