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

Alfie Kohn

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Alfie Kohn
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: October 15
Author
Teacher
Writer
Miami Beach
Florida
Make
Directions
Good
Decisions
Following
Learning
Decision
Learn
Making
Children

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We learn most readily, most naturally, most effectively, when we start with the big picture - precisely when the basics don't come first.
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Learning is something students do, NOT something done to students.
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Independence is useful, but caring attitudes and behaviors shrivel up in a culture where each person is responsible only for himself.
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John 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.
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To be well-educated is to have the desire as well as the means to make sure that learning never ends.
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In education, parody is obsolete.
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There are different kinds of motivation, and the kind matters more than the amount.
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To control students is to force them to accommodate to a preestablished curriculum.
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Do rewards motivate people? Absolutely. They motivate people to get rewards.
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If rewards do not work, what does? I recommend that employers pay workers well and fairly and then do everything possible to help them forget about money. A preoccupation with money distracts everyone - employers and employees - from the issues that really matter.
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The Legacy of Behaviorism: Do this and you'll get that.
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The race to win turns us all into losers.
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Contrary to what you think, your company will be a lot more productive if you refuse to tolerate competition among your employees.
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The value of a book about dealing with children is inversely proportional to the number of times it contains the word behavior.
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People 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 left to his own devices
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When we do things that are controlling, whether intentional or not, we are not going to get those long-term outcomes.
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To feel controlled is to lose interest.
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Don'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 near the school where the test was administered.
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The 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, it should be even more obvious that it’s true of what we need to teach.
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Whoever said there's no such thing as a stupid question never looked carefully at a standardized test.
Alfie Kohn