In his February 1977 article in "Kappan," Alfie Kohn criticizes nearly everyone involved in character education, asserting that the values taught in American classrooms are based on the "ideological legs of behaviorism, conservatism, and religion." Kohn should partake of humility, a commonly taught virtue. Fair treatment for…

Responding to Paul Chance's November 1992 "Kappan" article on motivational value of rewards, this article argues that manipulating student behavior with either punishments or rewards is unnecessary and counterproductive. Extrinsic rewards can never buy more than short-term compliance because they are inherently controlling and…

Social and moral development, like intellectual development, is a process by which learners actively construct meaning. Conventional character education, based on behaviorism, conservatism, and religious dogma, assumes that values can be asserted into passive receptacles. To help children develop the capacity for moral deliberation when called…

Americans tend to associate "vocational education" with narrow training for marginal students. After years of valuing abstract learning over applied academics, theorists are realizing many students learn better in applied settings. To reverse low productivity, raise living standards, and compete successfully in export market, we must…

Movement into high-technology Information Age demands a new kind of education and new, nonbehaviorist forms of school organization. Increasing social complexity requires schools to ensure that all students learn at high levels, construct their own knowledge, and fully develop their talents. This new model of unstandardized teaching and learning…