by Alfie Kohn
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Product Description
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.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Good but..., 2008-04-16
Alfie Kohn always does a good job of bringing a lot of enthusiasm and emotion to books like this. He definitely has a lot of good points, and at least attempts to make reference to studies. You will find yourself agreeing with a lot of the little observations he makes and many of his big ideas. However, as many have pointed out, a book like this tends to end up sounding like a collection of complaints more than a systematic discussion of what it actually means to be well-educated. I have implemented a number of his ideas in my own classroom with good success. The problem is that while he is clear about what shouldn't happen in a classroom, his discussion of what should happen always tends to be a little more open-ended and general. For example, he claims that students don't need to pack their heads with facts for a successful career, but rather need to be enthusiastic problem solvers and thinkers. So he suggests teachers shouldn't focus as much on rote memorization and factual knowledge. What is lacking is an in-depth discussion of how to foster thinking skills and problem solving in a classroom and maintain some sort of expectations of what kids should and will know or be able to do. This is the kind of book that makes for good, light reading about education and that can get you thinking. It is not the kind of book that should be widely quoted in serious research papers.
2 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
 Alfie Kohn is a Ding a Ling, 2007-01-10
This book was beyond bad. Alfie Kohn uses such popular ideas such as the stand against standardized testing and uses his screwy brand of logic and citations of "research studies" of which he, himself admittedly, often does not cite the source of the study.
His belief that rewards(praise) and punishments(discipline)with children are merely adults trying to mold children into what the adults want them to be. He feels that rewards and punishments are conditional love and their use signifies that adults love children only when they behave in the way we want them to. Thinking like this is why you are not able to go into a restaurant without kids screaming and climbing around.
Other ridiculous ideas include indirectly blaming the behavior of the victims of the WTC tragedies on 9/11 on the current school environment and that the Columbine shooting occurs because of the school system. YUCK!
4 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
What DOES being well educated mean?, 2006-09-03
Alfie Kohn shares his dislike of "big business", the NRA, and standardized testing with us, yet nowhere in this book is a clear statement of what he envisions as a suitable approach of imparting learning and then measuring the student's learning.
The title should have been reserved for a well researched book on being well educated. While I share his jaundiced view of training to a test and the application of merit pay, he leaves me in the dark on what things students must be proficient in to be judged "well educated". The possibility of convincing politicians to sign on to an approach that seems to lack measurable standards is low, so why not use THIS book to show how another way could result in students being able to function well in our society and economy?
If you want a book for your coffee table, one that won't be read, this is it. The author is suitably "leftist" and throws in cliche factoids, but I have no better idea of what could replace traditional schools than when I opened his book.
10 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
Narrow-minded whining!, 2005-07-14
I went into this book open-minded and excited, ready to learn more about the operation and standards associated with public schools today. What the book actually is, is a collection of narrow-minded complaints about corporate America, "the system," important white men, and anything traditional about America. Kohn is so narrow minded that he believes that his way is the only way, and that everyone in the nation agrees with him. He disregards and discounts traditional Americans, Christian whites, middle and upper class Americans, and all students who achieve good grades just as quickly as he discounts those who are narrow minded or racist. Kohn is just as narrow minded as he accuses others of being. He whines through the entire book, and offers no realistic alternatives to the current system. His alternatives assume that everyone hates the Boy Scouts and approves of higher taxes, and even if everyone DID hate the Boy Scouts and approve of higher taxes, his alternatives to the current system are still unrealistic. Completely inapplicable to modern education. Not even a nice fantasy...
19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
 Excellent book!, 2004-10-08
If you are truly interested in what can be done to improve our schools, and tired of the rhetoric fed to you by politicians and the media, this book will definitely give you some meat to chew on and think about. I recommend it for all who believe in the value of education.
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