Kohn's Zone

Alfie Kohn
  • 4.9 (36)
  • Social Sciences
  • Updated Biweekly

Over more than a third of a century, Alfie Kohn has offered a multifaceted defense of progressive education as well as research-based critiques of rewards and punishments, grades, standardized testing, homework, competition, and other aspects of traditional schooling (and parenting). Each episode of Kohn’s Zone will offer 20-30 minutes of provocative reflections on a topic having to do with teaching and learning — or with human behavior more generally; occasional longer segments will feature conversations with leading experts in education. Watch this space for new episodes, which will appear as if by magic every two weeks or so. You can listen here, or, better yet, on the podcast’s home, AlfieKohn.org/podcasts, which offers other resources. And to support us, please visit https://coff.ee/kohnszone. PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio. ART: Abi Kohn.

  1. 5d ago

    Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools

    October 1, 2026 Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools More than a quarter-century after “No Child Left Behind” deliberately left millions of children behind by imposing nationwide punitive high-stakes testing, U.S. students are still tested constantly, starting early in elementary school. Children in many states may be forced to repeat a grade based solely on their scores. In a memorable conversation, FAIRTEST director Harry Feder helps us understand just how pervasive testing has become and why that’s very bad news. Standardized exams have largely become, in his words, “tests of test-taking skills” rather than of academic proficiency. Moreover, NCLB and its legacy of constant testing (and test-oriented instruction) has a disproportionately damaging impact on low-income and minority students. Feder explains that authentic, performance-based assessments are not just realistic alternatives to standardized tests but produce far more meaningful results while avoiding the deadening effects of a test-prep curriculum. In short, people who who claim that standardized testing is necessary or useful are those who know the least about assessment and learning. RESOURCES: – Fairtest.org – https://www.performanceassessment.org/ – Alfie Kohn, The Case Against Standardized Testing (Heinemann, 2000) – https://tinyurl.com/4akzwzf8 – Sixteen essential books about testing: https://tinyurl.com/2n44b5ux – Stephen G. Sireci, “Standardization and UNDERSTANDardization in Educational Assessment,” Educational Measurement 39 (2020) – https://tinyurl.com/3afbv5p5 A note from Alfie Kohn: I made two decisions when I decided to start this podcast. The first was not to accept ads. The second was to avoid putting certain episodes behind a paywall (or offering special content only to those who pay). But this means that I depend on the generosity of everyone who listens to help cover the production costs. So: Can you afford a modest contribution — ideally on a regular basis, since a podcast, after all, is not a one-shot event? If so, I’d be grateful if you’d support the project with whatever amount seems fair to you. (Your generosity will also confirm the thesis of my book The Brighter Side of Human Nature.) Also, if you enjoy the podcast, please tell other people about it! And if you have feedback about an episode you’ve just listened to, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

  2. Sep 15

    Caution: Contents Under Pressure

    September 15, 2026 Caution: Contents Under Pressure The psychological consequences of pressuring children to perform well academically (and, worse, to outperform their peers) are distressingly obvious. But some adults rationalize their actions by claiming that pressure can be productive. Here we consider psychological research on different amounts and types of stress, as well as asking what exactly we view as a “productive” outcome. It turns out that internal pressure can be as damaging as external, and pressure on educators (e.g., to raise students’ test scores) can undermine the quality of teaching — and, thus, of learning. Likewise, “no pain, no gain” – a particularly toxic credo often taught to males – is driven more by ideology than by any evidence of practical value. RESOURCES Suniya Luthar and Bronwyn Becker, “Privileged but Pressured?” Child Development 73 (2002) – https://tinyurl.com/4r5arxa4 Abiola Keller et al., “Does the Perception that Stress Affects Health Matter?”, Health Psychology 31 (2012) – https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-30116-001 Thomas Curran et al., “Perfectionism is Accelerating Over Time,” Psychological Bulletin 152 (2026) – https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2027-72800-001.html Cheryl Flink et al., “Controlling Teaching Strategies,” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 59 (1990) – https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1991-13808-001 Edward L. Deci et al., “Effects of Performance Standards on Teaching Styles,” Journal of Educational Psychology 74 (1982) – https://tinyurl.com/3nekpbyw Alfie Kohn, The Myth of the Spoiled Child (Beacon Press, 2016) – https://www.alfiekohn.org/myth-spoiled-child/   A note from Alfie Kohn: If you’re enjoying Kohn’s Zone, please tell other people about it. If you have feedback about an episode, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. And if you’re willing to do your part to keep the podcast ad- and paywall-free, please click on the donate button or visit https://coff.ee/kohnszone. Thanks! Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

  3. Sep 1

    How Not to Deal with Bullying

    September 1, 2026 How Not to Deal with Bullying The amount of bullying that goes on in schools is as sobering as the psychological impact it has on its victims, sometimes lasting into adulthood. Alas, common strategies for dealing with this problem are often ineffective and even counterproductive. In fact, we may inadvertently create a climate conducive to bullying by relying on punitive discipline and also by pitting students against each other in contests. Rather than just trying to protect individual kids — or, worse, punishing bullies — we need to work with all students (and adults) to restructure the school’s culture and norms. RESOURCES: Barbara Coloroso, The Bully, The Bullied, and the Not-So-Innocent Bystander (William Morrow, 2004/2016) – https://tinyurl.com/4z3nmyur Katherine Schaeffer, “9 Facts About Bullying in the U.S.,” Pew Resarch Report, 2023 – https://tinyurl.com/ybe5axjh Frank Elgar et al., “Income Inequality and School Bullying,” Journal of Adolescent Health 45 (2009) – https://tinyurl.com/4rj6fs98 Suzet Tanya Lereya et al., “Parenting Behavior and the Risk of Becoming a Victim and a Bully/Victim,” Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) – https://tinyurl.com/4ncaecv5 Kyriaki Fousiani et al., “Perceived Parenting and Adolescent Cyber-Bullying,” Journal of Child and Family Studies 25 (2016) – https://is.gd/ziVkTJ William E. Copeland et al., ” Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied…,” JAMA Psychiatry 70 (2013) – https://tinyurl.com/wk6du7ba Mark J. Van Ryzin & Cary J. Roseth, “Cooperative Learning in Middle School, Journal of Educational Psychology 110 (2018) – https://is.gd/k04lUr Maria Rosaria Di Stasio et al., “Social Comparison, Competition, and Teacher-Student Relationships…Predicts Bullying and Victimization,” Journal of Adolescence 53 (2016) – https://tinyurl.com/bdddtdej Sung Hyeon Cheon et al., “Cluster Randomized Control Trial to Reduce Peer Victimization,” American Psychologist 78(2023) – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36701523/   A note from Alfie Kohn: If you’re enjoying Kohn’s Zone, please tell other people about it. If you have feedback about an episode, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. And if you’re willing to do your part to keep the podcast ad- and paywall-free, please click on the donate button or visit https://coff.ee/kohnszone. Thanks! Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

  4. Aug 15

    Teaching Kindness

    August 15, 2026 Teaching Kindness How can schools help children to become not only good learners but also good people? What’s involved in cultivating a genuine concern about others, an enduring commitment to helping and caring? Here we consider several strategies, which require us to look beyond behaviors and think about motives: the care we express for students, the prosocial examples we set, the beliefs we hold about them, the explanations we offer (about how their actions affect others), and the opportunities we create to practice caring. Particularly important for helping students to grow into caring people is the (eminently teachable) capacity to imagine the perspective of others, which promotes intellectual as well as moral growth.   A note from Alfie Kohn: If you’re enjoying Kohn’s Zone, please tell other people about it. If you have feedback about an episode, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. And if you’re willing to do your part to keep the podcast ad- and paywall-free, please click on the donate button or visit https://coff.ee/kohnszone. Thanks! Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

  5. Aug 1

    The Pseudoscience of Reading

    August 1, 2026 The Pseudoscience of Reading What the real science of reading shows is that there isn’t a single method for learning how to read that’s ideal for all children. Moreover, reading is not just about letter-sound relationships; it’s about making meaning — reading (and talking about) real books for real reasons. In an eye-opening conversation, literacy expert Catherine Compton-Lilly helps us dissect the dishonest claims of the so-called “Science of Reading” campaign and understand why an overemphasis on phonics (mechanical decoding) is not just unhelpful but actively harmful. SOR mandates amount to a kind of “educational malpractice” that ultimately diminish kids’ understanding of what they read and their enthusiasm about reading itself. Compton-Lilly describes what high-quality language-arts instruction looks like in the primary grades and beyond, as well as how thoughtful teachers assess kids’ reading proficiency (hint: not with tests!). RESOURCES Catherine Compton-Lilly et al., “Stories Grounded in Decades of Research: What We Truly Know about the Teaching of Reading,” The Reading Teacher 77 (2023): 392-400 – https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/trtr.2258 Catherine Compton-Lilly, “Centering Children and Working Towards Equity: Teaching All Children to Read,” Journal of Reading Recovery 24 (2025): 5-16 – https://tinyurl.com/zn9pa3yu Robert J. Tierney and P David Pearson, Fact-Checking the Science of Reading (Literacy Research Commons, 2024) – https://is.gd/3CboHH David Reinking et al., “Legislating Phonics: Settled Science or Political Polemics?”, Teachers College Record 125 (2023): 104-31 – https://is.gd/FChhv3 Alfie Kohn, “On Teaching Reading…” (excerpt from The Schools Our Children Deserve [Houghton Mifflin, 1999]) – https://is.gd/h32VeY   A note from Alfie Kohn: If you’re enjoying Kohn’s Zone, please tell other people about it. If you have feedback about an episode, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. And if you’re willing to do your part to keep the podcast ad- and paywall-free, please click on the donate button or visit https://coff.ee/kohnszone. Thanks! Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

  6. Jul 15

    The Remarkable Benefits of Diversity

    July 15, 2026 The Remarkable Benefits of Diversity Even if you aren’t ideologically opposed to segregation in schools, research shows that it doesn’t make sense for practical reasons — and that goes not only for segregation by race but also segregation by gender, ability, or age. What generally proves beneficial, from preschool to college, are heterogeneous environments — diverse schools and, equally important, diverse classrooms. But because proximity doesn’t guarantee affection, the optimal arrangement also provides support for interdependence: guided heterogeneity in which learning is structured to promote shared goals and perspective taking. RESOURCES For citations to the research mentioned in this episode, please see “Heterogenius,” the essay on which it’s based. Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

  7. Jul 1

    Raising Reflective Rebels

    July 1, 2026 Raising Reflective Rebels We’re faced with a silent epidemic of obedience, a pervasive failure to become outraged by outrageous things. Adults whose highest accolade for a child is “well-behaved” often themselves suffer from a crisis of moral courage. This episode offers practical suggestions for teachers and parents who want to help kids acquire not only the capacity but the inclination to question what they’re told — and, when necessary, to refuse to go along.   A note from Alfie Kohn: If you’re enjoying Kohn’s Zone, please tell other people about it. If you have feedback about an episode, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. And if you’re willing to do your part to keep the podcast ad- and paywall-free, please click on the donate button or visit https://coff.ee/kohnszone. Thanks! Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

  8. Jun 15

    Fun Without Winning or Losing

    June 15, 2026 Fun Without Winning or Losing We have been raised – and, in turn, raise our children – to take on faith that recreation requires competition, that half the people playing a game must try to defeat the other half. (They “cooperate” only with their teammates, and only in order to triumph over the other team.) In a true cooperative game, by contrast, everyone on the field – or gathered around a table indoors, in the case of cooperative board games – is working together toward the same goal. There are loads of such games for kids and adults, and you have to experience them to realize just how much fun competition isn’t. RESOURCES: Alfie Kohn, No Contest: The Case Against Competition (Houghton Mifflin, 1986/1992) – https://www.alfiekohn.org/contest/ Terry Orlick, The Cooperative Sports & Games Book (Pantheon, 1978) – https://amzn.to/33rltfY https://www.cooperativegames.com/ https://familypastimes.com   A note from Alfie Kohn: If you have comments or questions about an episode, send it to https://www.alfiekohn.org/contact-us/. And if you’re willing to help keep the podcast ad- and paywall-free, please click on the donate button or visit https://coff.ee/kohnszone. Thanks! Please click the button below to donate. If you don’t see a button, please go to this page (https://coff.ee/kohnszone). Donate PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio ART: Abi Kohn

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4.9
out of 5
36 Ratings

About

Over more than a third of a century, Alfie Kohn has offered a multifaceted defense of progressive education as well as research-based critiques of rewards and punishments, grades, standardized testing, homework, competition, and other aspects of traditional schooling (and parenting). Each episode of Kohn’s Zone will offer 20-30 minutes of provocative reflections on a topic having to do with teaching and learning — or with human behavior more generally; occasional longer segments will feature conversations with leading experts in education. Watch this space for new episodes, which will appear as if by magic every two weeks or so. You can listen here, or, better yet, on the podcast’s home, AlfieKohn.org/podcasts, which offers other resources. And to support us, please visit https://coff.ee/kohnszone. PRODUCTION SUPPORT: Ultraviolet Audio. ART: Abi Kohn.

Information

  • Creator
    Alfie Kohn
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    32
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    Copyright © 2025 by Alfie Kohn
  • Show Website
    Kohn's Zone

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