Skip to content

Alfie Kohn Quotes

born 1957 United States

Alfie Kohn (born October 15, 1957) is an American lecturer and author in the fields of education, psychology and parenting. He is an outspoken critic of American public education, particularly the trend toward pervasive standardized testing, and has written several books attacking "common sense" notions about competition, rewards, and parenting.

United States
Educators
Non-fiction authors

Random Alfie Kohn quote

12 quotes

The value of a book about dealing with children is inversely proportional to the number of times it contains the word behavior.

Children learn how to make good decisions by making decisions, not by following directions

Many of the familiar principles of Quality Management amount to an elaboration of this simple truth: an innovative healthy organization requires that we work with people rather than do things to them.

Rewards and punishments are not opposites at all; they are two sides of the same coin. And it is a coin that does not buy very much.

It doesn't matter how motivated students are; what matters is how students are motivated

Nothing about the concept of positive interdependence requires that members of the group avoid conflict, and there are good data to suggest that they should not do so.

Very few things are as dangerous as a bunch of incentive-driven individuals trying to play it safe.

The real alternative to being Number One is not being Number Two; it is dispensing with rankings altogether

Someone who thinks well of himself is said to have a healthy self-concept and is envied. Someone who thinks well of his country is called a patriot and is applauded. But someone who thinks well of his species is regarded as hopelessly naïve and is dismissed.

Some people undoubtedly find it convenient to have students arrive having already been stamped PRIME, CHOICE, SELECT, or STANDARD.

Punishment and reward proceed from basically the same psychological model, one that conceives of motivation as nothing more than the manipulation of behavior.

I once heard someone defend that belief by declaring that "human nature is to do as little as necessary." This prejudice is refuted not just by a few studies but the entire branch of psychology dealing with motivation. Normally, it's hard to stop happy, satisfied people from trying to learn more about themselves and the world, or from trying to do a job of which they can feel proud.

Unconditional Parenting (2006)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Alfie Kohn (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.