Alfie Kohn

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Alfie Kohn
Born	October 15, 1957 (1957-10-15) (age 51)
Occupation	Author, Lecturer

Alfie Kohn (October 15, 1957) is an American lecturer and author in the fields of education, psychology and parenting. He earned a BA from Brown University and a Masters from the University of Chicago.^[1] Kohn is an outspoken critic of American work place management, certain aspects of public education, and many commonly accepted parenting techniques.

Education

Despite never being a teacher, Kohn has written many books on education. His stance against standardized testing and excessive homework has received the most attention. In a 2006 USA Today editorial, as well as his book called The Homework Myth:^[2], Kohn argues that:

• There is no evidence that homework provides benefits in elementary school.
• In high school, any correlation effects are small, or disappear when compensating for other effects.
• No studies support claims of developing good work habits or other personal traits.

Books

No Contest: The Case Against Competition (Houghton MIfflin, 1986/1992)
You Know What They Say...: The Truth About Popular Beliefs (HarperCollins, 1990)
The Brighter Side of Human Nature: Altruism and Empathy in Everyday Life (Basic Books, 1990)
Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes (Houghton Mifflin, 1993/1999)
Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1996/2000)
What To Look For In A Classroom... And Other Essays (Jossey-Bass, 1998)
The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" (Houghton Mifflin, 1999)
The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools (Heinemann, 2000)
What Does It Mean To Be Well Educated? And More Essays on Standards, Grading, and Other Follies (Beacon Press, 2004)
Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason (Atria Books, 2005)
The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing (Da Capo Books, 2006)

Edited by Kohn:
Education, Inc.: Turning Learning into a Business (Heinemann, 2002)

DVD

Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason

References

See also

• John Caldwell Holt
• John Dewey

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Alfie Kohn

• WikEd page about Kohn
• Kohn's homepage