Alfie Kohn

@alfiekohn.bsky.social

3K followers 21 following 1.5K posts

author and lecturer on topics in #education, #parenting, and human #behavior....
(Personal messages more likely to be read if left on http://alfiekohn.org)
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Alfie Kohn is an American author and lecturer in the areas of education, parenting, and human behavior. He is a proponent of progressive education and has offered critiques of many traditional aspects of parenting, managing, and American society more generally, drawing in each case from social science research. .. more

Education 68%

Psychology 10%

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Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · Aug 12

"Podcast" comes from the Latin "paudus" (meaning "to half-listen to") and "casteratum" (meaning "while preparing food"). Mine is called "KOHN'S ZONE: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Education & Kids." New episodes are posted on the 1st & 15th of each month: www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 14h

What's striking isn't the growing number of studies finding negative effects from using AI - in this case, to have it summarize research for you (vs. searching individual sources yourself) - but the kneejerk tendency of those reporting them to ask how best to use AI (vs. whether we need it at all).

Last spring, Shiri Melumad, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, gave a group of 250 people a simple writing assignment: Share advice with a friend on how to lead a healthier lifestyle. To come up with tips, some were allowed to use a traditional Google search, while others could rely only on summaries of information generated automatically with Google’s artificial intelligence.

The people using A.I-generated summaries wrote advice that was generic, obvious and largely unhelpful — eat healthy foods, stay hydrated and get lots of sleep! The people who found information with a traditional Google web search shared more nuanced advice about focusing on the various pillars of wellness, including physical, mental and emotional health.

The tech industry tells us that chatbots and new A. search tools will supercharge the way we learn and thrive, and that anyone who ignores the technology risks being left behind. But Dr. Melumad’s experiment, like other academic studies published so far on A.Ls effects on the brain, found that people who rely heavily on chatbots and A.I search tools for tasks like writing essays and research are generally performing worse than people who don’t use them.

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 21h

When ideological purity and loyalty to the regime displace experience, expertise, and all other considerations: Exhibits A and B

SFDB @sfdb.bsky.social:
The DeSantis administration has turned New College into the least efficient school in the state's university system. “The operating funds per student at New College is $83,207 — four times the university system average.” Batting "woke waste" is not cheap.

[Sarasota Herald Tribune headline]
New College of Florida shows soaring expenses as state targets 'woke waste’
A report by Florida DOGE found that New College is the most financially inefficient school in the university system.

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 1d

www.reuters.com/world/us/fed...

www.reuters.com

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 1d

Cruelty cubed

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Donald Trump has asked his employees on the Supreme Court to overrule lower court orders demanding that he fulfill his duties to feed Americans who are due SNAP benefits

AND

He's demanding that states which just rushed to fill the vacuum created by his cruelty "undo" that work.

tony romm @tonyromm.bsky.social · 1d

NEW: The Trump admin told states it must immediately "undo" the work to provide full food stamp benefits, or face penalties. The feds sent this in a late-night memo, only adding to the chaos and confusion around SNAP. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/b...

Reposted by David R. Miller, Alfie Kohn

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

tony romm @tonyromm.bsky.social · 1d

Trump Administration Demands States ‘Undo’ Work to Send Full Food Stamps

www.nytimes.com

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 1d

Much has been said about Musk's appalling social media posts. Joyce Carol Oates takes a moment to notice what he *doesn't* post.

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 1d

Great read:
"No matter how unhinged the position you’ve taken, or paid someone marginally credentialed to sketch out on your behalf—“Can Woman Think?: We Investigate,” “Is the Negro a Man: A Reconsideration”—that opinion will...possess all needed evidentiary gravity for the [NY] Times": is.gd/jeMYql

Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani

It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…

is.gd

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 2d

P.S. Say, what ended up happening to Ceaușescu, the corrupt, narcissistic Romanian dictator? Oh, that's right. He was eventually arrested, tried, and executed.

Posting a photo of Ceausescuo's bathroom for no apparent reason [which is ornate, with marble and gold to rival Trump's more recent monument to bad taste and self-indulgence]

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 2d

Killing usually requires dehumanizing one's victims. One of the most vital services the press can perform is to rehumanize them. Profiles of some of the Venezuelan villagers recently murdered by the U.S. military at Trump & Hegseth's direction (and the loved ones left behind): tinyurl.com/28m5muh5

Trump has accused boat crews of being narco-terrorists. The truth, AP found, is more nuanced

One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet.

tinyurl.com

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

14 today. Hopefully 140 next week. Then 1400....

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

Either that or they believe that Islam is an irresistibly attractive religion

AkivaMCohen @akivamcohen.bsky.social · 3d

Just naked bigotry, they don't even bother trying to hide anymore

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3d

Tuberville: “We just saw what happened in NY. We lost NY. It will be completely Muslim in 3-4 years. That’s what they want. And it’s going to spread throughout the country.”

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Alfie Kohn

AkivaMCohen @akivamcohen.bsky.social · 3d

Just naked bigotry, they don't even bother trying to hide anymore

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 3d

Tuberville: “We just saw what happened in NY. We lost NY. It will be completely Muslim in 3-4 years. That’s what they want. And it’s going to spread throughout the country.”

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

As Adam Serwer keeps remind us, the cruelty is the point.

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

I believe it's called "Meta dementia"

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

Short answer: Lord, let's hope not!

Long answer: This is the kind of framing that capitulates to Big Tech (rather than exercising our critical faculties to ask whether we should be buying what they're selling) and that I challenged in this essay (is.gd/acOSmQ) & this podcast episode (is.gd/LOxdlR).

Education Week headline: "AI Is Picking Up Speed. Are Schools Keeping Pace?"

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

"We are at most a few years away from the mainstream media becoming controlled top to bottom, with a few very exceptions, by...right-wing and libertarian billionaires who want quite simply to destroy the idea of the public weal":
newrepublic.com/article/2025...

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 3d

Hey, nobody said that crushing independent thought was going to be cheap

Reposted by Gerald Friedman, Nikolay Marinov, Alfie Kohn

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 3d

It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 4d

Close your eyes and imagine a leftist's heavy-handed caricature of American capitalism.

Now open your eyes.

Musk Wins $1 Trillion Payday
Tesla shareholders approved a plan to grant Elon Musk shares worth nearly $1 trillion if he meets ambitious goals.

Reposted by Will Jennings, John Horgan, Steve Peers , and 7 more Will Jennings, John Horgan, Steve Peers, Joseph Schafer, Aaron Sojourner, Bessma Momani, Brian Keegan, Alfie Kohn, Ann Bartow, Simon Lester

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 4d

Let’s hear more of the dangers of democratic socialism under Mamdani

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Trump to the Novo Nordisk CEO: "Maybe you should give us a piece of the company like I've been asking for."

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 4d

Heartening that people protesting ICE brutality are exonerated, but when do we get to see those responsible for ICE brutality held accountable?

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 4d

Empathy and compassion personified

Frank Conniff @frankconniff.bsky.social · 4d

Pulitzer Prize photo right here.

Reposted by Jacob T. Levy, Elizabeth Stevenson, Alfie Kohn

Frank Conniff @frankconniff.bsky.social · 4d

Pulitzer Prize photo right here.

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 4d

MAGA comes in two versions for your convenience: (1) Those who embrace authoritarianism, racism, homo- & transphobia, sexism that can shade into misogyny, Islamophobia, and antisemitism. (2) Those who embrace all but the last, piously denouncing antisemitism (along with any criticism of Israel).

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 4d

... and because he has spoken up forcefully against Israeli war crimes, which is disingenuously equated with (or even described as) antisemitism by pro-Israel folks, including but not limited to those on the far right

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 4d

Jaw-dropping: Of 102 "U.S. government investigations into universities over antisemitism allegations...including 92 that led to the opening of investigations," would you like to guess how many actually concerned criticism of Israel? The answer is 101. tinyurl.com/24ctn8t9

Surge in antisemitism investigations at US universities after October 7 attacks, data shows

A report shared exclusively with the Guardian documents how a civil rights law has become a tool to impose ideological priorities on US schools

tinyurl.com

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 4d

MAGA comes in two versions for your convenience:
(1) Those who embrace authoritarianism, racism, homo- & transphobia, sexism that can shade into misogyny, Islamophobia, and antisemitism.
(2) Those who embrace all but the last, piously denouncing antisemitism (along with any criticism of Israel).

Reposted by Ralf Michaels, Alfie Kohn

Catherine Clase @catherineclase.bsky.social · 5d

Middle East Studies Association and American Association of University Professors: report on US govt investigations into universities

"According to the report, only 1 of 102 antisemitism complaints the authors reviewed raises antisemitism claims unrelated to criticism of Israel."

shorturl.at/xUeBz

Surge in antisemitism investigations at US universities after October 7 attacks, data shows

A report shared exclusively with the Guardian documents how a civil rights law has become a tool to impose ideological priorities on US schools

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Alfie Kohn

Asher Elbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 5d

Y'all ever notice how nobody can ever actually point to any *specific thing* that Mamdani *actually said* that was antisemitic, and how people are just baldly asserting it anyway

Alfie Kohn @alfiekohn.bsky.social · 5d

To be absolutely clear, by any reasonable moral standard - and according to international law - the Trump regime has the same right to overthrow the Maduro regime that the Maduro regime has to overthrow the Trump regime -- i.e., none whatsover.

Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 5d

If the administration thinks it has a compelling case to use military force against Venezuela, it should seek authorization from Congress as required by the Constitution.

Instead it is trying to convince senators to abdicate their constitutional responsibilities.

www.politico.com/live-updates...

Key Republicans waver ahead of war powers vote

The White House, in an apparent push to get Republicans on board, has increased efforts to brief lawmakers about its legal rationale for boat strikes in the Caribbean.

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