Kohn to Discuss 'Achievement-Crazy Culture'

Time magazine described Alfie Kohn as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades (and) test scores.” Kohn, the author of The Schools Our Children Deserve and many other books on education and human behavior, will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 5, at Giffels Auditorium at the University of Arkansas.

Kohn's topic is "Pushed Too Hard: Rescuing Education From an Achievement-Crazy Culture." He invites parents, teachers and others to rethink basic assumptions about competition, school achievement and the relationship between how we're raising our kids and how we hope they will turn out. The event is free and open to the public.

Kohn is presented by the Center for Children and Youth, Brown Chair in English Literacy, College of Education and Health Professions Dean Tom Smith, the interdisciplinary doctoral program in public policy, the department of curriculum and instruction, Northwest Arkansas Writing Project and Springdale Public Schools.

These groups are also sponsoring a screening of "Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America's Achievement Culture" at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 2, at the Graduate Education Building auditorium at the University of Arkansas. The movie is also free and open to the public and will be followed by a panel discussion.