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Alfie Kohn

Education Critic, Author, Parenting Expert

Alfie Kohn
Travels From Travels From:
Boston, MA, USA
Speaking Fee Speaking Fee:
Live Event: $5,000 - $10,000
Virtual Event: $5,000 - $10,000
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Categories Categories:
Authors, Business, Disruptive Thinking, Early Childhood Education, Education, Education Reform, Family & Parenting, Gaming, Government, Health, Healthcare, Inspirational, Literary, Marketing, Motivational, Nutrition, Personal Growth, Science, Thought Leadership
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Alfie Kohn Biography

Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. The most recent of his 14 books are "Schooling Beyond Measure…And Other Unorthodox Essays About Education," and "The Myth Of The Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Children and Parenting." He has also authored impactful works such as "Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes" and "The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing."

Kohn has been described in Time magazine as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores.” His criticisms of competition and rewards have helped to shape the thinking of educators — as well as parents and managers — across the country and abroad. His work has been featured on hundreds of TV and radio programs, including the “Today” show and two appearances on “Oprah”; he has been profiled in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, while his work has been described and debated in many other leading publications including the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, and Psychology Today.

Kohn lectures widely at universities and to school faculties, parent groups, and corporations. In addition to speaking at staff development seminars and keynoting national education conferences on a regular basis, he conducts workshops for teachers and administrators on various topics. Among them: “Motivation from the Inside Out: Rethinking Rewards, Assessment, and Learning” and “Beyond Bribes and Threats: Realistic Alternatives to Controlling Students’ Behavior.” The latter corresponds to his book "Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community," which he describes as “a modest attempt to overthrow the entire field of classroom management.”

Kohn’s various books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. He has also contributed to publications ranging from the Journal of Education to Ladies Home Journal, and from the Nation to the Harvard Business Review (“Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work”). His efforts to make research in human behavior accessible to a general audience have also been published widely.

Kohn, the father of two grown children, lives in the Boston area and frequently travels. His work continues to challenge traditional educational methodologies and practices, advocating for a more collaborative and inclusive approach to learning and parenting.

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Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 11/07/2024.

Alfie Kohn Speaking Topics

  • Beyond Bribes and Threats: Realistic Alternatives to Controlling Students’ Behavior

  • Motivation from the Inside Out: Rethinking Rewards, Assessment, and Learning

  • Pushed Too Hard: Parenting in an Achievement-Crazy Culture

    What does it mean to say we want our kids to be "successful"? In some neighborhoods, that word translates as making higher grades and test scores than other people's children – so they'll be accepted by elite colleges, so they'll get high-paying jobs, so they can... well, what? Erich Fromm once observed that "few parents have the courage to care more for their children's happiness than for their success." Indeed, research shows that affluent, high-achieving students are more likely to suffer from depression – and less likely to value learning for its own sake. Alfie Kohn invites us to rethink basic assumptions about competition, school achievement, and the relationship between how we're raising our kids and how we hope they'll turn out.

  • Unconditional Parenting: Beyond Bribes & Threats

    Advice for raising children typically comes in two flavors: threats (known euphemistically as "consequences") and bribes ("positive reinforcement"). Either we make kids suffer to teach them a lesson, or we dangle goodies in front of them for doing as they're told. Rewards and punishments are two sides of the same coin, and unfortunately, neither can buy anything more than temporary obedience. Manipulating children's behavior – by means of time-outs, contrived praise, privileges offered, and privileges taken away – can never help them to reflect on the kind of people they want to be. Instead of encouraging kids to take responsibility for their actions, it makes them dependent on rewards and punishments. Rather than promoting generosity and compassion, it leads them to focus on the consequence to themselves of pleasing the adult.

    This presentation, by Alfie Kohn, the author of Unconditional Parenting, will show why carrots and sticks are not only ineffective but actually counterproductive over the long haul. To raise children who are good learners and good people requires us to abandon strategies that do things to kids, in favor of an approach in which we work with them. And underlying those "working with" strategies is the message that children do not have to earn our approval, that we love them not for what they do but just for who they are.

  • The (Progressive) Schools Our Children Deserve

    Our knowledge of how children learn – and how schools can help – has come a long way in the last few decades. Unfortunately, most schools have not: They're still more about memorizing facts and practicing isolated skills than understanding ideas from the inside out; they still exclude students from any meaningful decision-making role; and they still rely on grades, tests, homework, lectures, worksheets, competition, punishments, and rewards. Alfie Kohn explores the alternatives to each of these conventional practices, explaining why progressive education isn't just a realistic alternative but one that's far more likely to help kids become critical thinkers and lifelong learners.

  • Teaching Children to Care

    We can't blame "human nature" when children act aggressively or selfishly. Extensive research has shown that these qualities are no more natural than the impulse toward empathy or generosity. But how do we nourish those positive inclinations and help children to act on their capacity to care? Alfie Kohn, author of The Brighter Side of Human Nature, discusses the roots of prosocial attitudes and actions, and invites educators to think about what promotes children's concern about others' well-being. He urges activities (and a curriculum) that enhance understanding of how others see the world, as well as a commitment to replace isolation and competition with a feeling of community in the classroom and school.

Alfie Kohn Videos

  • Alfie Kohn - Symposium On Our Youngest Citizens
    Alfie Kohn - Symposium On Our Youngest Citizens
    Alife Kohn at Children's Museum of Tacoma's Symposium On Our Youngest Citizens, April 19 2019 at University of Washington Tacoma.
  • Alfie Kohn- A Case against Competition in Schools & Sports
    Alfie Kohn- A Case against Competition in Schools & Sports
    Alfie Kohn- A Case against Competition in Schools & Sports.
  • Alfie Kohn - Teachers Make a Difference
    Alfie Kohn - Teachers Make a Difference
    Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting.
See All Videos »

Alfie Kohn Books

  • Feel-Bad Education: And Other Contrarian Essays on Children and Schooling
    Feel-Bad Education: And Other Contrarian Essays on Children and Schooling
  • The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing
    The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing
  • Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community
    Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community
  • Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason
    Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason
  • What Does it Mean to Be Well Educated? And Other Essays on Standards, Grading, and Other Follies
    What Does it Mean to Be Well Educated? And Other Essays on Standards, Grading, and Other Follies
  • The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and
    The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards"

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  • What topics does Alfie Kohn speak about?

    Alfie Kohn is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Authors, Business, Disruptive Thinking, Early Childhood Education, Education, Education Reform, Family & Parenting, Gaming, Government, Health, Healthcare, Inspirational, Literary, Marketing, Motivational, Nutrition, Personal Growth, Science, Thought Leadership.

  • Where does Alfie Kohn travel from?

    Alfie Kohn generally travels from Boston, MA, USA, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent.

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Alfie Kohn is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Beyond Bribes and Threats: Realistic Alternatives to Controlling Students’ Behavior, Motivation from the Inside Out: Rethinking Rewards, Assessment, and Learning, Pushed Too Hard: Parenting in an Achievement-Crazy Culture, Unconditional Parenting: Beyond Bribes & Threats, The (Progressive) Schools Our Children Deserve and Teaching Children to Care. The estimated speaking fee range to book Alfie Kohn for your event is $5,000 - $10,000. Alfie Kohn generally travels from Boston, MA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Gever Tulley, Kanya Balakrishna, Anthony Rao, James Garbarino and Linda Darling-Hammond. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Alfie Kohn for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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