Alfie Kohn - Views On Education

Views On Education

Kohn's ideas on education would currently be described as progressive and have been influenced by the works of John Dewey and Jean Piaget. He believes in a constructivist account of learning in which the learner is seen as actively making meaning rather than absorbing information, and he argues that knowledge should be taught "in a context and for a purpose." Kohn has also written that learning should be organized around "problems, projects, and questions -- rather than around lists of facts, skills, and separate disciplines." Along with this belief, Kohn feels that students should have an active voice in the classroom with the ability to have a meaningful impact on the curriculum, structure of the room, and any necessary discipline measures, among other things.

Kohn has been critical of several aspects of traditional schooling. Classroom management and discipline are, in Kohn's view, focused more on eliciting compliance than on helping students become caring, responsible problem-solvers. He has also denounced the effects of the test-driven "accountability" movement — in general, but particularly on low-income and minority students — arguing that "the more poor children fill in worksheets on command (in an effort to raise their test scores), the further they fall behind affluent kids who are more likely to get lessons that help them understand ideas." More recently, Kohn has been critical of the place homework holds in the American classroom, noting that research does not support claims of any benefit to homework, academically or otherwise.