A Few Good Books
This week’s Works For Me Wednesday theme was to share what doesn’t work for us. Though I didn’t get a post up here, I did share one at my personal blog that I thought some of you might be interested. It is about bribing kids to get a desired result and how the short term benefits are outweighed by the long term problems, such as diminished internal motivation.
I shared that my thoughts were influenced by a book I read called Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes by Alfie Kohn, one that I think a lot more parents should read. Kohn has several other books on education and children that are worth looking for, both for parents with kids in school and those choosing home education.
I written before my list of the Top 10 Books Every Homeschooling Parent Should Read, but I’m going to have to amend that to add Alfie Kohn to the list. Anyone looking for some summer time reading should check out the list and see what strikes their interest. And don’t forget to check out some of the books by Kohn also. His other books The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing, The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools and The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards” are three that parents should definitely read through no matter how they choose to educate their children.
So go, read my post and leave me lots of comments. Then look for some Alfie Kohn in your local library, he’s definitely worth checking out.
books, home education, Alfie Kohn, education
May 11th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
You are absolutely right about every parent needing to read Alfie Kohn! He is a great writer, and he manages to merge statistics, studies and common sense in a way that most education writers do not.