Do rewards motivate people? Absolutely. They motivate people to get rewards. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
Saying you taught it but the student didn't learn it is like saying you sold it but the customer didn't buy it. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
Educational success should be measured by how strong your desire is to keep learning. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
To be well-educated is to have the desire as well as the means to make sure that learning never ends. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
Grades dilute the pleasure that a student experiences on successfully completing a task. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
To control students is to force them to accommodate to a preestablished curriculum. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
The overwhelming number of teachers ...are unable to name or describe a theory of learning that underlies what they do. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
In outstanding classrooms, teachers do more listening than talking, and students do more talking than listening. Terrific teachers often have teeth marks… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
If faculty would relax their emphasis on grades, this might serve not to lower standards but to encourage an orientation toward learning. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
“Many of our elected officials have virtually handed the keys to our schools over to corporate interests. Presidential commissions on education are… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
We have so much to cover and so little time to cover it. Howard Gardner refers to curriculum coverage as the single… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
When test scores go up, we should worry, because of how poor a measure they are of what matters, and what you… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
“a grade can be regarded only as an inadequate report of an inaccurate judgment by a biased and variable judge of the… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
Don't let anyone tell you that standardized tests are not accurate measures. The truth of the matter is they offer a remarkably… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
“But as I mastered the material, homework ceased to be necessary. A no homework policy is a challenge to me," he adds.… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
“The more we want our children to be (1) lifelong learners, genuinely excited about words and numbers and ideas, (2) avoid sticking… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
In some suburban schools, the curriculum is chock-full of rigorous A.P. courses and the parking lot glitters with pricey SUVs, but one… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
Each time I visit such a classroom, where the teacher is more interested in creating a democratic community than in maintaining her… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
What is wrong with encouraging students to put "how well they're doing" ahead of "what they're doing." An impressive and growing body… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
“Far from helping students to develop into mature, self-reliant, self-motivated individuals, schools seem to do everything they can to keep youngsters in… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
In a word, learning is decontextualized. We break ideas down into tiny pieces that bear no relation to the whole. We give… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
In short, with each of the thousand-and-one problems that present themselves in family life, our choice is between controlling and teaching, between… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
“Students get the message bout what adults want. When 4th graders in a variety of classroomswere asked what their teachers most wanted… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
The difference between a good educator and a great educator is that the former figures out how to work within the constraints… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
We can't value only what is easy to measure; measurable outcomes may be the least important results of learning. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
Assessments should compare the performance of students to a set of expectations, never to the performance of other students. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
Educators remind us that what counts in a classroom is not what the teacher teaches; it’s what the learner learns. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
Students should not only be trained to live in a democracy when they grow up; they should have the chance to live… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
John Dewey reminded us that the value of what students do 'resides in its connection with a stimulation of greater thoughtfulness, not… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
We learn most readily, most naturally, most effectively, when we start with the big picture - precisely when the basics don't come… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
Standardized testing has swelled and mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
“The story of declining school quality across the twentieth century is, for the most part, a fable,” says social scientist Richard Rothstein,… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
“Many of our elected officials have virtually handed the keys to our schools over to corporate interests. Presidential commissions on education are commonly chaired… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
“a grade can be regarded only as an inadequate report of an inaccurate judgment by a biased and variable judge of the extent to… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
In some suburban schools, the curriculum is chock-full of rigorous A.P. courses and the parking lot glitters with pricey SUVs, but one doesn't have… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
Standardized testing has swelled and mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
If a child is off-task...mayb e the problem is not the child...maybe it's the task. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
If unconditional love and genuine enthusiasm are present, praise isn't necessary. If they're absent, praise won't help. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
Most of us would protest that of course we love our children without any strings attached. But what counts is how things look from… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
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?… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
Punishment and reward proceed from basically the same psychological model, one that conceives of motivation as nothing more than the manipulation of behavior. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
Each time I visit such a classroom, where the teacher is more interested in creating a democratic community than in maintaining her position of… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
Educators remind us that what counts in a classroom is not what the teacher teaches; it’s what the learner learns. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
In short, with each of the thousand-and-one problems that present themselves in family life, our choice is between controlling and teaching, between creating an… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
To control students is to force them to accommodate to a preestablished curriculum. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
“But as I mastered the material, homework ceased to be necessary. A no homework policy is a challenge to me," he adds. "I am… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share
