Feel-Bad Education: And Other Contrarian Essays on Children and Schooling
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ISBN: 0807001406 / Publisher: Beacon Press, April 2011
Kohn, an education writer and lecturer, collects 19 of his recent essays (published from 2004-2010) that provide a progressive perspective on education questions. He argues against uniform standards, the use of rubrics for evaluating individual assignments, and using competitiveness in a global economy as an excuse for education policies. He discusses what progressive education is, its values, and what distinguishes it; student cheating and other micro-level issues; how to motivate student interest in reading and writing; school safety; problems with signs considered to be inspiring in classrooms; issues with current education reform; and psychological and parenting issues, including self-discipline. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Mind-opening writing on what kids need from school, from one of education’s most outspoken voices Arguing that our schools are currently in the grip of a “cult of rigor”—a confusion of harder with better that threatens to banish both joy and meaningful intellectual inquiry from our classrooms—Alfie Kohn issues a stirring call to rethink our priorities and reconsider our practices. Kohn’s latest wide-ranging collection of writings will add to his reputation as one of the most incisive thinkers in the field, who questions the assumptions too often taken for granted in discussions about education and human behavior. In nineteen recently published essays—and in a substantive introduction, new for this volume—Kohn repeatedly invites us to think more deeply about the conventional wisdom. Is self-discipline always desirable? he asks, citing surprising evidence to the contrary. Does academic cheating necessarily indicate a moral failing? Might inspirational posters commonly found on school walls (“Reach for the stars!”) reflect disturbing assumptions about children? Could the use of rubrics for evaluating student learning prove counterproductive? Subjecting young children to homework, grades, or standardized tests—merely because these things will be required of them later—reminds Kohn of Monty Python’s “getting hit on the head lessons.” And, with tongue firmly in cheek, he declares that we should immediately begin teaching twenty-second-century skills. Whether Kohn is clearing up misconceptions about progressive education or explaining why incentives for healthier living are bound to backfire, debunking the idea that education reform should be driven by concerns about economic competitiveness or putting “Supernanny” in her place, his readers will understand why the Washington Post has said that “teachers and parents who encounter Kohn and his thoughts come away transfixed, ready to change their schools.”
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