Quote

Independence is useful, but caring attitudes and behaviors shrivel up in a culture where each person is responsible only for himself.

Alfie Kohn

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Alfie Kohn
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: October 15
Author
Teacher
Writer
Miami Beach
Florida
Person
Caring
Useful
Independence
Responsible
Behavior
Attitude
Shrivel
Culture
Behaviors
Persons
Attitudes

More quotes by Alfie Kohn

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Trying to be number one and trying to do a task well are two different things.
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How can we do our best when we are spending our energies trying to make others lose - and fearing that they will make us lose?
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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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Whoever said there's no such thing as a stupid question never looked carefully at a standardized test.
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Punishments and rewards are two sides of the same coin and that coin doesn't buy you much.
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Do rewards motivate people? Absolutely. They motivate people to get rewards.
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Educators remind us that what counts in a classroom is not what the teacher teaches it’s what the learner learns.
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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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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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If unconditional love and genuine enthusiasm are present, praise isn't necessary. If they're absent, praise won't help.
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Those 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 people develop a healthy confidence in themselves, a belief that it's safe to take risks and try new things.
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Trying to do well and trying to beat others are two different things. Excellence and victory are conceptually distinct . . . and are experienced differently.
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Most of us would protest that of course we love our children without any strings attached. But what counts is how things look from the perspective of the 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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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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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.
Alfie Kohn
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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.
Alfie Kohn
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Saying you taught it but the student didn't learn it is like saying you sold it but the customer didn't buy it.
Alfie Kohn
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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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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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