Mind-opening writing on what kids need from school, from one of education's most outspoken voices
Almost no writer on schools asks us to question our fundamental assumptions about education and motivation as boldly as Alfie Kohn. The Washington Post says that "teachers and parents who encounter Kohn and his thoughts come away transfixed, ready to change their schools." And Time magazine has called him "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores."

Here is challenging and entertaining writing on where we should go in American education, in Alfie Kohn's unmistakable voice. He argues in the title essay with those who think that high standards mean joylessness in the classroom. He reflects thoughtfully on the question "Why Self-Discipline Is Overrated." And in an essay for the New York Times, which generated enormous response, he warns against the dangers of both punishing and praising children for what they do instead of parenting "unconditionally."

Whether he's talking about school policy or the psychology of motivation, Kohn gives us wonderfully provocative-and utterly serious-food for thought. This new book will be greeted with enthusiasm by his many readers, and by teachers and parents seeking a refreshing perspective on today's debates about kids and schools.

Introduction
"Well, Duh!": Obvious Truths That We Shouldn't Be Ignoring

One: Progressivism and Beyond
1. Progressive Education: Why It's Hard to Beat, But Also Hard to Find
2. Challenging Students-and How to Have More of Them
3. Getting Hit on the Head Lessons

Two: The Nuts and Bolts of Learning
4. It's Not What We Teach; It's What They Learn
5. Who's Cheating Whom?
6. How to Create Nonreaders: Reflections on Motivation, Learning, and Sharing Power
7. The Trouble with Rubrics

Three: Climate & Connections: How Does School Feel to the Students?
8. The Value of Negative Learning
9. Unconditional Teaching
10. Safety from the Inside Out
11. Bad Signs

Four: The Big Picture: Education Policy
12. Feel-Bad Education: The Cult of Rigor and the Loss of Joy
13. Against "Competitiveness"
14. When Twenty-First-Century Schooling Just Isn't Good Enough: A Modest Proposal
15. Debunking the Case for National Standards

Five: Beyond the Schools: Psychological Issues & Parenting
16. Atrocious Advice from Supernanny
17. Parental Love with Strings Attached
18. Why Self-Discipline Is Overrated: The (Troubling) Theory and Practice of Control from Within
19. Cash Incentives Won't Make Us Healthier

Credits
Index