After posting about the issues Alfie Kohn takes with grade inflation, I became enthralled with the education activist's articles against accountability standards and common practices in education. One article attacked a habit of mine (and many others) that hit me where it hurts: "Five Reasons to Stop Saying 'Good Job!'". Although this article from Young Children journal is about teaching very young kids, the psychology of rewarding students with a pat "Good job!" response is no different for youths than adults. I usually am in earnest when I use this phrase; I proffer it to the student who says something right on the mark in class discussions and I write it in the margins of student papers A LOT. Maybe too much. Kohn's made me start thinking twice about it. (Bad job, Arnzen!)

I won't annotate the whole "five reasons" (and three solutions) Kohn gives here, but I'll here's a quote that might seduce you into reading the rest of this fascinating essay:

The reason praise can work in the short run is that young children are hungry for our approval. But we have a responsibility not to exploit that dependence for our own convenience. A "Good job!" to reinforce something that makes our lives a little easier can be an example of taking advantage of children’s dependence. Kids may also come to feel manipulated by this, even if they can’t quite explain why. (Kohn)

Kohn is the author of Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes (1993). I recommend reading the many articles his website makes available online. He's a "scholar-activist" and his politics are right on the table; whether you agree with his positions or not, he's good at raising important issues facing educators today.

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