In a word, learning is decontextualized. We break ideas down into tiny pieces that bear no relation to the whole. We give students a brick of information, followed by another brick, followed by another brick, until they are graduated, at… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
You have to give them unconditional love. They need to know that even if they screw up, you love them. You don't want them to grow up and resent you or, even worse, parent the way you parented them. — 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 Image
“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 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 doesn't have… — 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 threatens to… — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
If a child is off-task...mayb e the problem is not the child...maybe it's the task. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
If unconditional love and genuine enthusiasm are present, praise isn't necessary. If they're absent, praise won't help. — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
When was the last time you spent the entire day with only 42 year olds? — Alfie Kohn Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 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
