Feel-Bad Education: And Other Contrarian Essays on Children and Schooling by Alfie Kohn

It should be no surprise that Kohn takes a dim view of the national standards movement. The goal isn’t to nourish curiosity, help children fall in love with reading and thinking, and think critically. It is a prescription for uniform, specific, rigorous standards that will pump the American economy and make sure we triumph over other countries. There is no mention of exploration, intrinsic motivation, developmentally appropriate, or democracy. (See my summary of Larry Stedman’s work for an extended explanation of why the standards movement failed at http://bit.ly/pr6rxk).

Kohn sites research that supports the idea that unconditional acceptance by teachers and parents is much more effective than a positive and negative conditional approach, which engenders dislike in children. Unconditional acceptance involves the concept of “autonomy support,” which includes explaining reasons for requests, maximizing opportunities for the child to participate in making decisions, being encouraging without manipulating, and actively imagining how things look from the child’s point of view.

Internal behavior control that is so highly prized by parents and educators can be a problem when it goes to far. Spontaneity, flexibility, expressions of interpersonal warmth, openness to experience, and creative recognition may indeed come from a lack of self-control. Kids who feel controlled from within are likely to be conflicted and unhappy. Installing internal policemen isn’t the same thing as allowing students to develop their own values or producing independent thinkers. They may focus on grades, be less interested in what they are learning, think superficially, retain less, and look for the easiest tasks. Some evidence indicates that overly conformist students are not particularly creative.

Alfie is the author of twelve books including Punished by Rewards, Unconditional Parenting, The Homework Myth and What Does It Mean To Be Well Educated? He speaks widely to teachers and parents and lives in the Boston area. Kohn’s criticisms of competition and rewards have been widely discussed and debated, and he has been described in Time magazine as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades and test scores.” For more check out his blog at http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.php