Guest: Author Alfie Kohn
Feel-Bad Education by Alfie Kohn
Sam’s away, but that doesn’t mean you wont get some brand new Majority Report! Today Sam talks education reform with noted author and education expert Alfie Kohn.
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9:41 am
I am a mother of three school aged children, I support public education, I am a behavior analyst, and I was very disappointed with this interview. Mr. Kohn expressed that he is against measurement, outcome based instruction, and “behaviorist” methods, but he offered no solutions. As a behavioral scientist, as a scientist at all, I know that measurement and outcome based strategies are important. I think the real issues we have to look at are: what outcomes do we want, how will we achieve them, and how will we take measurements to ensure we are achieving the desired outcomes.
Everything I have ever read and my personal experience points to the importance of early childhood education, starting before or shortly after birth, during the critical years of rapid brain development. This is also a critical time for nutrition, development disabilities, autism, and child care needs. These programs may require a large initial investment, but they will result in a long term savings. Like the right making the argument that this economy requires unprecedented cut backs, we should be making the argument that the current economic situation requires unprecedented investments.