Hi Selma,I can't imagine why anyone would derive anything but despair from reading this.Selma
What is hopeful is that an articulate voice is carefully exposing the darkness of our time. Alfie Kohn is a 'voice crying in the wilderness' which is always needed (and remarkably appears) when we find ourselves slipping more and more into a cult of efficiencies.
You should spend some time reading his edifying books. He will inspire you. Here is a brief bio:
Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and social theory. Of his eight books, the best known are PUNISHED BY REWARDS: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes (1993) NO CONTEST: The Case Against Competition (1986), and THE SCHOOLS OUR CHILDREN DESERVE: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" (1999). His most recent book is THE CASE AGAINST STANDARDIZED TESTING: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools (2000).
Kohn was recently described by Time magazine as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores." His criticisms of competition and rewards have helped to shape the thinking of educators -- as well as parents and managers -- across the country and abroad. Kohn has been featured on hundreds of TV and radio programs, including the "Today" show and two appearances on "Oprah"; he has recently been profiled in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, while his work has been described and debated in many other leading publications.
Kohn lectures widely at universities and to school faculties, parent groups, and corporations. In addition to speaking at staff development seminars and keynoting national education conferences on a regular basis, he conducts workshops for teachers and administrators on various topics. Among them: "Motivation from the Inside Out: Rethinking Rewards, Assessment, and Learning" and "Beyond Bribes and Threats: Realistic Alternatives to Controlling Students' Behavior." The latter corresponds to his book BEYOND DISCIPLINE: From Compliance to Community (ASCD, 1996), which he describes as "a modest attempt to overthrow the entire field of classroom management."
Kohn is also the author of THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF HUMAN NATURE: Altruism and Empathy in Everyday Life (Basic Books,1990), which argues that it is as "natural" for humans to help as to hurt. His articles on such subjects as "How to Raise a Caring Child" and "The Limits of Cynicism" have reached both academic and general readers. YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY...: The Truth About Popular Beliefs
(HarperCollins, 1990), meanwhile, debunks more than 80 common assumptions about behavior, health, science, and public policy. His various books have been translated into Japanese, Korean, German, Swedish, Dutch, Portuguese, Hebrew, and Italian.
Kohn has contributed to publications ranging from the Journal of Education to Ladies Home Journal, and from the Nation to the Harvard Business Review ("Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work"). His efforts to make research in human behavior accessible to a general audience have also been published in the Atlantic Monthly, Parents, and Psychology Today (where he was a contributing editor).
His articles on education include "Tests That Cheat Students" in the New York Times; "Grading: The Issue Is Not How But Why" and several other essays in Educational Leadership; various pieces in Education Week, Learning, and School Administrator; and seven widely reprinted cover articles in Phi Delta Kappan: "Caring Kids: The Role of the Schools" (March 1991), "Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide" (Sept. 1993), "The Truth About Self-Esteem" (Dec. 1994), "How Not to Teach Values: A Critical Look at Character Education" (Feb. 1997), "Only for My Kid: How Privileged Parents Undermine School Reform" (April 1998), "Fighting the Tests" (Jan. 2001), and "The 500-Pound Gorilla" (October 2002). (These are all available on-line.) In 1998, Jossey-Bass published a collection of Kohn's articles entitled: WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A CLASSROOM ... and Other Essays.
Educated at Brown University and the University of Chicago, Kohn lives (actually) in the Boston area with his wife and two children, and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.org.
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