In my work as a teamwork coach I help trainers and managers design high impact teambuilding programs.  Many of the people I consult with believe they have a firm grasp about what it means to teach people (educate, train, etc.).  The reality is most trainers are simply copying the teaching methodology they witnessed while going through school, meaning the teacher talks and the students listen passively only to regurgitate facts for an exam.

That is not teaching.

One of the sacred cows of teaching is homework.  Everyone knows that homework reinforces learning.  Homework promotes understanding.  Homework promotes high achievement.  Homework is good.

Only it’s not.

In his latest book entitled “The Homework Myth“, Alfie Kohn systematically shows that all of our commonly held beliefs about the value of homework do not pass the test of research, logic, or experience.

Here’s what one reviewer from the Atlantic Monthly had to say about the book:

Parents take note: this is a stinging jeremiad against the assignment of homework, which the author, a prominent educator, convincingly argues is a wasteful, unimaginative, and pedagogically bankrupt practice that initiates kids into a soul-sucking rat race long before their time.

What else do you believe to be true about teaching and learning?

AUDIO INTERVIEWS OF ALFIE KOHN