Alfie Kohn Books

In this “lively, provocative and well-researched book” (Theodore Sizer), Alfie Kohn builds a powerful argument against the “back to basics” philosophy of teaching and simplistic demands to “raise the bar.” Drawing on stories from real classrooms and extensive research, Kohn shows parents, educators, and others interested in the debate how schools can help students explore ideas rather than filling them with forgettable facts and preparing them for standardized tests.Here at last is a book that challenges the two dominant forces in American education: an aggressive nostalgia for traditional teaching (“If it was bad enough for me, it’s bad enough for my kids”) and a heavy-handed push for Tougher Standards.

Seasoned with humor and familiar examples, this book presents an argument that is unsettling to hear but impossible to dismiss

Since its publication in 1993, this groundbreaking book has convinced countless parents, teachers, and managers that working with people is more successful than doing things to them. Do rewards motivate people? asks Kohn. Yes. They motivate people to get rewards. Moreover, the use of rewards actually undermines the quality of people's work or learning - and causes them to lose interest in whatever they've been bribed to do. Seasoned with humour and familiar examples - and updated to include a wealth of recent research, Punished by Rewards presents an argument unsettling to hear but impossible to dismiss.

The author of Punished by Rewards and The Schools Our Children Deserve returns with a provocative challenge to the conventional ways of raising children. Kohn argues that all children have the need to be loved unconditionally, yet conventional approaches to parenting, such as punishment and reward, teach children that they are loved only when they please and impress parents. Kohn cites powerful research detailing the damage this can cause. Unconditional Parenting pushes parents to question their ideas of parenting and offers practical solutions to problems.

No Contest stands as the definitive critique of competition. Contrary to accepted wisdom, competition is not basic to human nature; it poisons our relationships and holds us back from doing our best. In this new edition, Alfie Kohn argues that the race to win turns all of us into losers.

Exploring the essential needs of children in the educational system, this book presents thought-provoking insights from a prominent advocate for reform. It delves into the gaps in traditional schooling and emphasizes the importance of fostering creativity, critical thinking, and emotional well-being. Through compelling arguments and real-world examples, the author challenges conventional practices and proposes innovative approaches to better support the diverse needs of students.

"A prominent and esteemed critic challenges widely held beliefs about children and parenting, revealing that underlying each myth is a deeply conservative ideology that is, ironically, often adopted by liberal parents. Somehow a set of deeply conservative assumptions about children--what they're like and how they should be raised--have congealed into the conventional wisdom in our society. Parents are accused of being both permissive and overprotective, unwilling to set limits and afraid to let their kids fail. Young people, meanwhile, are routinely described as entitled and narcissistic. With the same lively, contrarian style that characterizes all of his influential work, Alfie Kohn systematically debunks these beliefs--not only challenging erroneous factual claims but also exposing the troubling ideology that underlies them. Relying on new research and a vast collection of social science data, as well as on logic and humor, he challenges popular parenting myths and argues that, in fact, the major threat to healthy child development is parenting that is too controlling rather than too indulgent"-- Provided by publisher

Few writers ask us to question our fundamental assumptions about education as provocatively as Alfie Kohn. Time magazine has called him'perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores.' And the Washington Post says he is 'the most energetic and charismatic figure standing in the way of a major federal effort to make standardized curriculums and tests a fact of life in every U.S. school.'In this new collection of essays, Kohn takes on some of the most important and controversial topics in education of the last few years. His central focus is on the real goals of education-a topic, he argues, that we systematically ignore while lavishing attention on misguided models of learning and counterproductive techniques of motivation.The shift to talking about goals yields radical conclusions and wonderfully pungent essays that only Alfie Kohn could have written. From the title essay's challenge to conventional, conservative definitions of a good education to essays on standards and testing and grades that tally the severe educational costs of overemphasizing a narrow conception of achievement, Kohn boldly builds on his earlier work and writes for a wide audience.Kohn's new book will be greeted with enthusiasm by his many readers and by any teacher or parent looking for a refreshing perspective on today's debates about schools.

The book presents a transformative approach to discipline in educational settings, advocating for a shift from traditional methods to collaborative strategies. Alfie Kohn emphasizes the importance of working alongside students to foster caring communities, rather than imposing control. This 10th anniversary edition includes a new afterword that further explores these innovative ideas, reinforcing the need for a more compassionate and engaging learning environment.

This volume examines what's right with education, advocating schools that support children's innate desire to learn; schools that treat students as individuals, not widgets; and classrooms in which positive values are absorbed rather than drilled. schovat popis