The education conversation we should be having - The Washington Post

The education conversation we should be having - The Washington Post

The education conversation we should be having

Alfie Kohn has been writing and speaking about education, human behavior and parenting for more than two decades, writing 14 books and hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines and journals.

His most recent book was “Schooling Beyond Measure and Other Unorthodox Essays About Education,” which challenges conventional wisdom about education in this country, including whether U.S. schools have really fallen behind those in other countries, as is often said by commentators.

Kohn is a believer in progressive education and has critiqued much of the conventional wisdom about schooling. He believes in homework only when it is absolutely necessary, for example.

In the following post, Kohn continues the conversation on what matters — and doesn’t — in education and what he believes the Democratic presidential candidates should be thinking about when it comes to improving the country’s schools. Part of his argument is calling out progressives who, he says, are not actually educationally progressive. Here’s his piece.

By Alfie Kohn

More than 50 million children attend public elementary or secondary school in the United States. The fact that so many voters spend so much time thinking about what happens to their kids in school means that the topic of education — specifically, what comes between preschool and college — should be a priority for a Democratic candidate. And the focus should transcend political and economic considerations in order to address how our children are being educated.

The standard positions of political progressives are absolutely worth repeating and embracing: support for public education, which is a cornerstone of a democratic society; adequate pay for teachers; a commitment to equity and integration; and so on. But many people who talk this way ignore or even endorse policies that are troubling to thoughtful educators. CONTINUE READING: The education conversation we should be having - The Washington Post