What we don’t know about our students — and why we don’t know it - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

What we don’t know about our students — and why we don’t know it - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

What we don’t know about our students — and why we don’t know it

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about education and human behavior, including “The Schools Our Children Deserve,” “The Homework Myth,” and the newly published“Feel-Bad Education . . . And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & Schooling.” He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.com.

By Alfie Kohn

There’s a scene near the beginning of Small Change (also known asPocket Money), Truffaut’s übercharming movie about children of all ages, in which a teacher makes each of her students recite a passage from a Molière play — a test of both memory and dramatic skill.

The teacher is especially tough on one boy who chants the lines in a