alfiekohn

alfiekohn, 2 months ago to random

This is...quite a chart.
(It's from a new Nature article by social epidemiologists called "Why the World Cannot Afford the Rich": https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00723-3)

alfiekohn, 7 months ago to random

Parents explain to The Onion why they're banning books:

• “If my son reads a book with a Black character, he might become Black.”
• "A book killed my husband."
• “The Supreme Court showed us that any group, no matter how small, can force its will on the nation.”
• "Nothing can defeat the love we have for our kids and the hate we have for yours."

alfiekohn, 13 days ago to random

I love my neighborhood

alfiekohn, 7 months ago to random

The idea that people used to be more moral, or that the quality of parenting and schools have declined, is neither new nor true. It is, however, quite dangerous.

My new blog post: "Aggressive Nostalgia: The Dark Side of Pining for the Good Old Days" - https://www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/aggressive-nostalgia/

alfiekohn, 8 months ago to random

In terms of what it reveals about her psychiatric status, Ms. Wolf might as well have announced, "My toaster is secretly recording my thoughts." But antivax falsehoods are fed by political fervor, so such pronouncements are eagerly seized on. And ultimately contribute to countless deaths.

alfiekohn, 3 months ago to random

1/2 An impressive long-term study shows the harms of overly controlling parenting, connecting the perception of such control by one's parents at age 13 with relationship difficulties & lower educational attainment nearly 2o decades later: https://is.gd/spjQi0

"Adolescents who perceive their parents to be psychologically controlling are likely to...steer away from close relationships [as adults, having learned that such relationships] are sources of stress and that closeness comes at a cost"

alfiekohn, 1 year ago to random

A large study confirms that curiosity is an important predictor of academic achievement - across the board but particularly for low-income kids: https://is.gd/zLBk8u.
Painfully ironic given the curiosity-killing practices (scripted direct instruction, behavior management, etc.) that such kids get in spades.

alfiekohn, 4 months ago to random

The entrance area that greets visitors to a typical American high school contains two things: evidence (in the form of trophies) that its students triumphed over students from other schools + plaques listing which of its students are better than others.

Suggested assignment (for administrators, teachers, and kids): Design a school lobby that reflects a commitment to collaboration and community rather than to sorting and triumphing.

alfiekohn, 10 months ago to random

Interesting observation: U.S. media references to “oligarchs” invariably refer to Russians, whereas Americans with comparable amounts of money and influence are simply called “businessmen” or even “philanthrophists”: https://is.gd/MTpAOI

alfiekohn, 6 months ago to random

Years ago I was chatting with Thomas Gordon (author of Parent Effectiveness Training) and he remarked, "Autocratic environments make people sick." Of course he was referring to control-based parenting, but now I can't help pondering the relevance of his comment for an entire nation.

alfiekohn, 6 months ago to random

Lots of research (reviewed in my book No Contest) shows that participating in competition undermines moral development and generosity, but one of those studies, by developmental psychologist Norma Feshbach, really stands out. It found that merely growing up with a competitive parent is enough to reduce a child's empathy - sort of like the health risks of breathing secondhand smoke.

alfiekohn, 6 months ago to random

Mindfulness training for kids: In 2016, a "carefully-controlled investigation...showed no benefits for any measure, and indicated an adverse effect for some participants": https://goo.gl/a7nZi1.
Now a study of a different mindfulness program has found similar results: https://is.gd/h4317q
Uh-oh. Does this mean we have to actually address systemic causes of anxiety and depression?

alfiekohn, 4 months ago to random

Christ! It's "polarized" because a large chunk of this country is now an authoritarian cult, determined to end our democracy and subjugate those who aren't straight, white, and Christian, while the rest of us, terrified, are trying to stop them.
The "polarization" framing - here by the Wash. Post, but also in heavy rotation by other media outlets - is a gift to the first group.

(More on this topic here: http://tinyurl.com/ac9z44xs.)

alfiekohn, 4 months ago to random

“When you watch a child who is focused on learning, & let them know you’re watching, & let them know your opinion, you just took that thing away from them. You just made it yours. Your smell is all over it now...

“I watched an 18-month-old stacking blocks, completely absorbed. When she successfully stacked 3 blocks, I exclaimed, ‘Good job!’ She looked at me [as if to say] “Excuse me. Did somebody ask for your opinion?” Then she stopped playing with the blocks.”

Source: https://carolblack.org/the-gaze/

alfiekohn, 11 months ago to random

alfiekohn, 28 days ago to random

Jerome Bruner reminded us that we want students to "experience success and failure not as reward and punishment but as information." This insight is so essential that I call it Bruner's Law.

Its immediate implication is that grades must be eliminated (not merely tweaked) since they're inevitably experienced by students as rewards and punishments.

Beyond that, we should use Bruner's Law as the standard by which to weigh all other assessment practices and whether they make sense.

alfiekohn, 9 months ago to random

1/2
Universities (as bastions of intellectual exploration, not just of career preparation or credentialing), like the principle of academic freedom itself, are vital partly because they strengthen democracy. Which is exactly why they're targeted by the far right in Florida., Hungary, India, and elsewhere: https://is.gd/h482io

alfiekohn, 1 month ago to random

One of the all-time great NYT letters to the editor

alfiekohn, 1 month ago to random

1/4 Time for my periodic reminder about one of the most important educational research findings of the 20th century: the Eight-Year Study.

Back in the 1930s, 30 high schools around the US turned traditional practice on its head, especially for college-bound students.

In place of grade-driven, teacher-controlled, fact-based instruction, the learning was interdisciplinary, conceptual, experiential, collaborative, often ungraded, and fashioned jointly by teachers and students...

alfiekohn, 1 month ago to random

Ruling the world by force:

U.S. share of the world's population: 4%

U.S. share of the world's military spending: 37% (equivalent to more than 183 of the world's other 193 countries combined) (https://is.gd/BXlkAw; https://is.gd/LmJMYh)

U.S. share of weapons sales: 42% (https://is.gd/n4aGAi)

U.S. share of foreign military bases: 75-85% (https://is.gd/jwyBu4)
(When the U.S. demanded to build a base in Ecuador, Ecuador responded, "Sure, if we can build one in Miami.")

alfiekohn, 1 month ago to random

It's fair to question how "conservatism" and "creativity" were operationalized in this new study, but its finding of a negative (albeit very modest) correlation between the two phenomena across 28 different countries is interesting: https://www.psypost.org/study-links-conservatism-to-lower-creativity-across-28-countries/

alfiekohn, 1 month ago to random

1/3
The GOP's core feature is cruelty: denying aid to the needy, ending reproductive rts, attacking trans people, etc. Makes sense that they're also vocal defenders of Israel's inconceivably savage siege of a civilian population killing 1000s of children.

If my politics WEREN'T on the far right yet I responded to Israeli war crimes with deflection, rationalization, or anything other than unqualified moral outrage, I'd ask myself hard questions about why MAGA minions were my natural bedfellows.

alfiekohn, 2 months ago to random

If I had my way, every article in the popular press about research findings and recommended practices related to schooling would have to be accompanied by this caveat:

"Phrases such as 'higher achievement,' 'positive outcomes,' and 'better results' that appear here refer only to standardized test scores. These are poor indicators of intellectual proficiency and primarily measure socioeconomic status or the extent of students' training in test-taking skills."

alfiekohn, 1 year ago to random

That he may be indicted for four separate clusters of serious offenses should lay bare the pattern, the scope and enormity of his criminality. What terrifies me is that ~40% of voters live in an alternate reality where the more crimes he's held accountable for, the clearer it seems to them that he's just being persecuted.