Book Group Meeting Two - A Summary

In our latest book group meeting, we discussed the first section of Kohn's book. We covered some of the following points:

• Kohn is very subjective, which can distract from the qualities of his argument  

• university entrance remains very focused on test scores. 

•  free will vs. determinism. 

• enrichment v. mastery. 

• connection to Tiger Mother. 

• how praise/rewards/punishments can really rupture relationships.

The following questions were also raised:

• how do the concepts raised by Kohn relate to our own education? 

• what is the connection to parenting? 

• relevance to "Drive" by Dan Pink? 

• why is pop behaviorism so popular? 

• how can we experiment as a teacher when giving feedback? How neutral can I be? 

• Kohn really attacks behaviorism.  Does he create a convincing arugment that it is morally wrong to manipulate? 

• are we all addicted to grades?  How do we make the focus on ways to grow instead? 

• what are the non-negotiables in our curriculum? Do we treat them as such? 

•  what if an entire school doesn't share this same philosophy? Are we unified in constructing and maintaining this ethos?  Do we have something that transcends individual differences of opinion?

Posted on behalf of Malia