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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.

Alfie Kohn

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Alfie Kohn
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: October 15
Author
Teacher
Writer
Miami Beach
Florida
Long
Things
Intentional
Controlling
Outcomes
Term
Whether
School
Going

More quotes by Alfie Kohn

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A preoccupation with achievement is not only different from, but often detrimental to, a focus on learning. Thoughts and emotions while performing an action are more important in determining subsequent engagement than the actual outcome of that action.
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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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There are different kinds of motivation, and the kind matters more than the amount.
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We can't value only what is easy to measure measurable outcomes may be the least important results of learning.
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If a child is off-task...mayb e the problem is not the child...maybe it's the task.
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Grades are a subjective rating masquerading as an objective evaluation.
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Do rewards motivate people? Absolutely. They motivate people to get rewards.
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You have to give them unconditional love. They need to know that even if they screw up, you love them. You don't want them to grow up and resent you or, even worse, parent the way you parented them.
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Each 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 again that moving away from consequences and rewards isn’t just realistic - it’s the best way to help kids grow into good learners and good people.
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Social psychology has found the more you reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward.
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When 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.
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What can we surmise about the likelihood of someone's being caring and generous, loving and helpful, just from knowing that they are a believer? Virtually nothing, say psychologists, sociologists, and others who have studied that question for decade
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How we feel about our kids isn't as important as how they experience those feelings and how they regard the way we treat them.
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Students should not only be trained to live in a democracy when they grow up they should have the chance to live in one today.
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We have so much to cover and so little time to cover it. Howard Gardner refers to curriculum coverage as the single greatest enemy of understanding. Think instead about ideas to be discovered.
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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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Standardized testing has swelled and mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole.
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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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Maximum difficulty isn't the same as optimal difficulty.
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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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