Alfie KohnPeople will typically be more enthusiastic where they feel a sense of belonging and see themselves as part of a community than they will in a workplace in which each person is lef… ▶373Humanity
Alfie KohnHow can we do our best when we are spending our energies trying to make others lose - and fearing that they will make us lose? ✨ Alfie Kohn (2013). No Contest: The Case Agai… ▶376Thought
Alfie KohnSome who support [more] coercive strategies assume that children will run wild if they are not controlled. However, the children for whom this is true typically turn out to be tho… ▶343ThoughtTruth
Alfie KohnPunishment and reward proceed from basically the same psychological model, one that conceives of motivation as nothing more than the manipulation of behavior. ✨ Alfie Kohn (… ▶323Reflection
Alfie KohnJohn Dewey reminded us that the value of what students do 'resides in its connection with a stimulation of greater thoughtfulness, not in the greater strain it imposes. ✨ Al… ▶356Thought
Alfie KohnDo rewards motivate people? Absolutely. They motivate people to get rewards. ✨ Alfie Kohn (1999). Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Pra… ▶378Humanity
Alfie KohnUnconditional parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason. ✨ Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason. Book by A… ▶324LoveReading
Alfie KohnThe difference between a good educator and a great educator is that the former figures out how to work within the constraints of traditional policies and accepted assumptions, whe… ▶324Love
Alfie KohnThe value of a book about dealing with children is inversely proportional to the number of times it contains the word behavior. ✨ Alfie Kohn (2011). Feel-bad Education: And … ▶335ReadingTime
Alfie KohnIn some suburban schools, the curriculum is chock-full of rigorous A.P. courses and the parking lot glitters with pricey SUVs, but one doesn't have to look hard to find students w… ▶325Philosophy
Alfie KohnEach time I visit such a classroom, where the teacher is more interested in creating a democratic community than in maintaining her position of authority, I’m convinced all over a… ▶328HumanityTime
Alfie KohnVery few things are as dangerous as a bunch of incentive-driven individuals trying to play it safe. ✨ Alfie Kohn (1999). Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, In… ▶317Sadness
Alfie KohnTo feel controlled is to lose interest.295Life
Alfie KohnSometimes we have to put our foot down, ... but before we deliberately make children unhappy in order to get them to get into the car, or to do their homework or whatever, we need… ▶318Time
Alfie KohnWhen we do things that are controlling, whether intentional or not, we are not going to get those long-term outcomes.264Truth
Alfie KohnPunishments and rewards are two sides of the same coin and that coin doesn't buy you much.275Hope
Alfie KohnTo be well-educated is to have the desire as well as the means to make sure that learning never ends. ✨ Alfie Kohn (2004). What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated?: And More E… ▶275Reading
Alfie KohnDon't let anyone tell you that standardized tests are not accurate measures. The truth of the matter is they offer a remarkably precise method for gauging the size of the houses n… ▶265Truth
Alfie KohnIn short, with each of the thousand-and-one problems that present themselves in family life, our choice is between controlling and teaching, between creating an atmosphere of dist… ▶3110LifeLovePolitics
Alfie KohnThe race to win turns us all into losers. ✨ Alfie Kohn (1999). Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes, p.448, Hough… ▶221Humor
Alfie KohnPunishments erode relationships and moral growth.233Reading
Alfie KohnWhoever said there's no such thing as a stupid question never looked carefully at a standardized test.255Death
Alfie KohnThose who know they're valued irrespective of their accomplishments often end up accomplishing quite a lot. It's the experience of being accepted without conditions that helps peo… ▶277HumanityLife
Alfie KohnThe late W. Edwards Deming, guru of Quality management, once declared, 'The most important things we need to manage can't be measured.' If that’s true of what we need to manage, i… ▶299Truth
Alfie KohnIndependence is useful, but caring attitudes and behaviors shrivel up in a culture where each person is responsible only for himself. ✨ Alfie Kohn (1999). Punished by Reward… ▶289Truth
Alfie KohnChildren learn how to make good decisions by making decisions, not by following directions. ✨ The Homework Myth. Book by Alfie Kohn, 2006.267Reading
Alfie KohnIf I offered you a thousand dollars to take off your shoes, you'd very likely accept--and then I could triumphantly announce that 'rewards work.' But as with punishments, they can… ▶224Love
Alfie KohnIt's not just that humiliating people, of any age, is a nasty and disrespectful way of treating them. It's that humiliation, like other forms of punishment, is counterproducti ve.… ▶204Humanity
Alfie KohnWhen test scores go up, we should worry, because of how poor a measure they are of what matters, and what you typically sacrifice in a desperate effort to raise scores.238Love
Alfie KohnLearning is something students do, NOT something done to students.185Humanity
