Alfie Kohn Quotes

Author

Alfie Kohn is a renowned author and educational critic, known for his research on educational psychology and human behavior. His work often explores the power dynamics in education, evaluation systems, and how to create more meaningful learning environments. Born on October 15, 1957, Kohn's career includes educational research and writing, and his books, such as 'Punishment by Myth' and 'The Case Against Reward', have had a profound impact on educational practice and theory.

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Famous Alfie Kohn Quotes

“The more we want our children to be (1) lifelong learners, genuinely excited about words and numbers and ideas, (2) avoid sticking with what’s easy and safe, and (3) become sophisticated thinkers, the more we should do everything possible to help them forget about grades.”

Kids School Education Learning Parenting

Author:Alfie Kohn

“Many of our elected officials have virtually handed the keys to our schools over to corporate interests. Presidential commissions on education are commonly chaired by the executives of large companies.”

Children School Education Parenting Homeschooling Going Beyond Non Traditional

Book:The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" – A Research-Based Argument for Child-Centered Learning

Source: The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" – A Research-Based Argument for Child-Centered Learning

“How well you do things should be incidental, not integral, to the way you regard yourself.”

Self Esteem Parenting

Book:The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Coddled Kids, Helicopter Parents, and Other Phony Crises

Source: The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Coddled Kids, Helicopter Parents, and Other Phony Crises

“Even before i had children, I knew that being a parent was going to be challenging as well as rewarding. But I didn't really know. I didn't know how exhausted it was possible to become, or how clueless it was possible to feel, or how, each time I reached the end of my rope, I would somehow have to find more rope. I didn't understand that sometimes when your kids scream so loudly that the neighbors are ready to call the Department of Child Services, it's because you've served the wrong shape of pasta for dinner. I didn't realize that those deep-breathing exercises mothers are taught in natural-childbirth class dont really start to pay off until long after the child is out. I couldn't have predicted how relieved I'd be to learn that other peoples children struggle with the same issues, and act in some of the same ways, mine do. (Even more liberating is the recognition that other parents, too, have dark moments when they catch themselves not liking their own child, or wondering whether it's all worth it, or entertaining various other unspeakable thoughts). The bottom line is that raising kids is not for whimps.”

Children Struggle Parenting Child Child Rearing

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

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

“Do we really want to condemn as excessive the use of safety helmets, car seats, playgrounds designed so kids will be less likely to crack their skulls, childproof medicine bottles, and baby gates at the top of stairs? One writer criticizes "the inappropriateness of excessive concern in low-risk environments," but of course reasonable people disagree about what constitutes both "excessive" and "low risk." Even if, as this writer asserts, "a young person growing up in a Western middle-class family is safer today than at any time in modern history," the relevance of that relative definition of safety isn't clear. Just because fewer people die of disease today than in medieval times doesn't mean it's silly to be immunized. And perhaps young people are safer today because of the precautions that some critics ridicule.”

Parenting Spoiled Children

Book:The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Coddled Kids, Helicopter Parents, and Other Phony Crises

Source: The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Coddled Kids, Helicopter Parents, and Other Phony Crises

“Historians have shown that "parents in the Middle Ages worried about their kids no less than we worry about ours today," and by the nineteenth century there is evidence of bars being placed on windows to protect toddlers from falling out as well as "leading strings so that young children wouldn't wander off during walks.”

Parenting Spoiled Children

Book:The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Coddled Kids, Helicopter Parents, and Other Phony Crises

Source: The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Coddled Kids, Helicopter Parents, and Other Phony Crises