Alfie Kohn

@alfiekohn.bsky.social

3331 Followers 22 Following

author and lecturer on topics in education, parenting, and human behavior.... (Personal messages more likely to be read if left on http://alfiekohn.org) He/him

Israeli settlers torch vehicles, properties in occupied West Bank attacks Israell setters attack Palestinian vilages, set vehicles on fire and injure several residents in the West Bank.
Is the BRAT Diet Really the Best Way to Treat a Stomach Bug? We asked experts.
Musk Plans to Spend at Least $100 Million to Help Republicans in the Midterms Elon Musk, a year after a huge blowup with President Trump and the Republican Party, is said to be planning to spend in at least eight states to help them in November.
MarketWatch headline: "The U.S. economy is shedding jobs. Why that's good news for stocks."
Vance: I've had moments where | felt the presence of God. A friend and I were talking about Christianity and there was this moment where a glass fell off the wall. | think an atheist would dismiss that, but it felt like God was trying to send me a message.
Good morning. Its Monday. Today we'll look at parents of infants who are taking in Christopher Nolan's popular new epic, “The Odyssey” — with thir babies in tow. [photo of man in movie theater holding baby to face the screen]
Cartoon shows Trump asking "Is today a 'Destroy Iran' day or a 'Pause for Negotiations' Day?" - to which his assistant replies, "Let me check with your stock broker"
Headline: Iran War Drives Oil Profits to Highest Levels in Years
Headline: "Sales at Taco Bell Recover Following Outbreak from Cyclospora"
The Best Phones for Seniors in 2026 No matter your age, you can benefit from the simplicity of a voice phone or one with a big, bright screen. These are the best phones we've tested that make life easy.
EPA exempts data center power plants from pollution limits seeking to prevent acid rain
Even further, why keep the best education for those who are already doing well at the games? This in effect is what the colleges are doing when they select from their applicants those with the highest Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Isn't this like saying that we will coach especially those who already can play tennis well? One would think that the purpose of education is precisely to improve the performance of those who are not doing very well. So when psychologists predict on the basis of the Scholastic Aptitude Test who is most likely to do well in college, they are suggesting implicitly that these are the “best bets” to admit. But in another sense, if the colleges were interested in proving that they could educate people, high-scoring students might be poor bets because they would be less likely to show improvement in performance...
I will never forget an instance of a black student applicant for graduate school at Harvard who scored in something like the fifth percentile in the Miller Analogies Test, but who obviously could write and think clearly and effectively as shown by the stories he had written as a reporter in the college paper. I could not convince my colleagues to admit him despite the fact that he had shown the criterion behavior the Analogies Test is supposed to predict. Yet if he were admitted, as a psychologist, he would be writing papers in the future, not doing analogies for his colleagues. It is amazing to me how often my colleagues say things like: “I don't care how well he can write. Just look at those test scores.” Testers may shudder at this, and write public disclaimers, but what practically have they done to stop the spread of this blind faith in test scores?
Employers Fear Labor Shortage as Many Immigrants Lose Protected Status A recent Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the Tramp administration to end a humanitarian program that has allowed about one million immigrants to work legally in the U.S.
Trump Moves to Cut Off Student Loans for Tons of Degrees Under a new rule, if your degree doesn't make enough money, you won't be able to get a student loan.
For now, Israel’s impunity will enable its Jewish citizens to continue to ignore the genocide, the consequences of which will be a deepening degradation of Israeli ethics and morality, erosion of the rule of law, internal police violence against the state’s Palestinian and Jewish citizens and the undermining of whatever is left of Israeli democracy. Beyond being deprived of any justice and accountability for their suffering, the Gazan victims of Israeli actions will continue to live in dire conditions, under military supervision and with very limited prospects.
Google Is Building an A.I. Fence Around the Internet It Once Championed As Google incorporates more artificial intelligence into search, people are spending more time on Google. Some website operators are crying foul.
[3 WashPost headlines in a row] Nearly 500 readers shared stories of deathbed visions. Here are 10. “This is Jerry: How a Maine Lobsterman and a seagull became friends How much forgetfulness is normal. and when you should sce a doctor
They Were Charged With Assaulting ICE Agents. The Cases Are Crumbling. The Trump administration has lost or abandoned hundreds of criminal cases against protesters and immigrants, a Times investigation found.
The core failure of our Constitution is that it is based on individual political and civil rights, ‘with no mention of economic or social rights. It's based on what we call “negative rights” things that the government cannot do to its citizens. What's missing is a robust conception of “positive rights”: the things that the government must do for its citizens. Indeed, there have been efforts, led by the Supreme Court, to “calcify” the Constitution as “a charter of negative liberties” and nothing more. It's a mistake that we keep making. You can see how that design and structure are great from the perspective of a wealthy white man who merely needs the government to stay out of his way (and out of his pocket). It's not so great from the perspective of a person who needs affirmative things from the government. And it is largely silent on the broader issues of social and public good.
...When an AL summary answers your search query in three seconds, the window closes before curiosity can deepen. You get what you came for, but you also lose what would have turned curiosity into learning: the adjacent article you might have read, the resulting tangent you might have followed, the connection between two ideas with no obvious relationship. Researchers call this incidental learning, and it’s the mechanism behind many serendipitous discoveries. Scientific breakthroughs, artistic leaps, technological innovation — these rarely emerge from efficient retrieval of known information. They emerge from periods of undirected exploration, when people follow questions further than they need to and find things they weren't expecting...
[NYT headline] Cease-Fire Unraveling as U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes Again A fresh round of attacks by the U.S. was the latest volley in a familiar pattern of back-and-forth strikes fueled by disputes over the Strait of Hormuz.
[breaking news header] LINDSEY GRAHAM, SOUTH CAROLINA'S SENIOR U.S. SENATOR, DEAD AT 71 AFTER ‘BRIEF AND SUDDEN ILLNESS’ [existing header] Up for reelection, SC’s Lindsey Graham appears invincible. And if you oppose him, he doesn’t care.
Mistaking cultural signifiers and identity markers for politics is centrism's most dangerous pathology, the thing that makes centrism the handmaiden of the right. If you think identity markers are politics, then you'll be tempted to think the answer to a world run by 150 rich, white, cis straight guys is to replace half of them with women, POCs and queer people. The difference between the Teft and the right isn't the identities of the ruling class - it's whether we have a ruling class at all.
[WashPost headline] Rubio tries to enlist other nations in antifa fight, buts ome allies recoil The secretary of state plans to convene foreign ministers in Washington next week. The event has unsettled some U.S. and European officals.
President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Administration are not only protecting Social Security, but we are providing meaningful and immediate relief to older Americans who have spent decades contributing to our nation's economy. Just last year, on July 4, 2025, President Trump signed into law the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. This historic legislation included a tax cut that allows Americans 65 and older to keep more of their hard-earned Social Security benefits. Thanks to President Trump, over 35 million American seniors received an average of $7,500 in relief this tax season. If you did not take advantage of the President's signature tax cut for seniors, | encourage you to review eligibility requirements through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website for next year's tax filing season. Under the leadership of President Trump, we are protecting and strengthening Social Security while providing world-class customer service:
Cartoon features angry elephants carrying tiki-torches, holding a piece of paper saying "SUPPRESSION GERRYMANDERING," and chanting, "Voters will not replace us!..."
Crossword puzzle clue: "A _______"
I spoke to NYU Law professor Melissa Murray about this ruling. She said that it will become the basis of discrimination against trans people across a host of issues. “The administration,” she said, “is going to saddle this ruling and ride it like Seabiscut to prosecute their view that the marginalization and inequality of trans people is necessary for sex equality writ large.” Murray warned that we've already seen the model that Republicans and the Trump administration will use: the case that overruled affirmative action, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. That ruling, Murray said, seemed to only affect a narrow issue—the specific use of affirmative action for college admissions—but the Trump administration has used it to justify discrimination on a much wider scale, ending so-called DEI programs across the federal government; reaching into any number of private institutions to disrupt their hiring practices; and, perhaps most important, cutting off funding for institutions and programs that don’t share the administration's bigoted views. Murray predicts that the same thing will happen with trans rights. The decision that trans women have no equal-protection rights on the field will be extended to the workplace and every manner of government or government-sponsored institution. And this metastasizing bigotry will not stop in red states. B.P.J. was about whether red states are allowed to discriminate against trans people. The next case will be about whether blue states are required to discriminate against trans people, as they will surely be ordered to do by Trump and Stephen Miller—“to protect women and girls,” they'll say. I can imagine a day when the Supreme Court orders states to adopt the same kind of bigotry the court merely allows.
NYT headline: "Is Kidmaxxing the Ultimate Status Symbol for Ultimate Wealth?"
Critics question trans rights movement's strategies after a string of Supreme Court setbacks This weeks decision upholding state bans on transgender athletes follows others involving transition care and parental notification. By Julian Mark
WashPost headline: "Supreme Court expands Trump's power over independent agencies"
‘Mullin now sets up an even more impossible double standard. If the government wants to discriminate against Black people, any pretext will do. “As long as there is a plausible basis—any plausible articulable basis—for the government's action, then the Court will look to that basis as sufficient,” Aderson Francois, a law professor at Georgetown University, told me, “even in the face of evidence that government actors were motivated by animus.” If a Black person wants to prove they've been discriminated against, however, no amount of evidence will suffice. “This Court sees race when it wants to, and blinds itself to racism in most other cases,” Melissa Murray, a law professor at NYU, told me. “It’s hard to imagine how egregious the statement would have to be to be considered ‘overtly racial’.” This is a “color-blind” Constitution that the architects of Jim Crow could love. Many of the devices employed during segregation, such as poll taxes, grandfather clauses, and literacy tests, were superficially race-neutral. In fact, slavery itself could conceivably be race-neutral—after all, one does not need to be a racist to seek cheap labor for a profitable business!
Mock news story is headlined "More Indictments of Trump Critics on the Way" and reads as follows: "WASHINGTON - Sources reveal that the Department of Justice plans to prosecute several more Democratic officials for a variety of alleged offenses. (A White House spokesman says there are no such plans.) Critics point to a pattern of prosecutions in which the administration singles out President Trump's opponents for punishment. (The spokesman denies the existence of any pattern.) The latest indictments are expected to be announced on Friday. (The spokesman insists that there is no such day as "Friday.")"
Panel from Tom Tomorrow's "This Modern World": Trump: "We'll funnel $300 billion Victory Dollars to Iran! Stupid Obama could NEVER have achieved THAT! They HAVE to give me the Nobel Peace Prize NOW!" Vance: "You have VERY successfully begun to possibly end the war you launched for no apparent eason, sir!"
Meme featuring angry woman wearing MAGA cap: "I voted to be racist - not poor!"
ANGUISHED PARENTS, CRYING DOCTORS: LIFE AMID UTAH'S MEASLES OUTBREAK The state's outbreak means adapting to America's new reality, in which vaccine-preventable diseases become common again
Trump Clears Way for Corporate Tax Dodge Hidden in the Fine Print U.S. companies skirted at least $40 billion in taxes since the beginning of 2025 thanks to schemes in places like Malta, Bermuda and Cyprus.
Pentagon Sees Growing Espionage Threat From Israel The Defense Department has increased the threat assessment to its highest level, and Israel is believed to have eavesdropped on U.S. talks with Iran. Israeli Strike Kills 3 Lebanese Soldiers, Days After Truce Was Signed Infant Killed as Israeli Military Fires on Car in West Bank, Palestinian Officials Saya
Cartoon features a giant wooden horse labeled "AI" outside ancient gates, where one sentry says to another, "A gift from the geeks."
Firesign Theatre: "Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers"
picture of See 'n Say
image of a bubble
So we end up with canned perfection—writing that can't really be argued with, because it has no underlying deliberative reasoning process, no train of thought. As | wrote on X recently, Al writing is almost impossible to edit, because even when it sounds plausible, a closer look will show that every element is equally off: The tone is bland; individual word choices are baffling; the structure lacks sense; key pieces of the argument are missing; facts are false. Working on Al text, as an editor, is like trying to operate on a body whose skin, muscles, veins, bones, and organs are all compromised. There's nothing to leave intact, nowhere to begin.
WPost headline: "Did Trump pick the right blue for the Reflecting Pool? We asked a pool guy."
[headline on education website] Strategies That Empower Students to Answer Questions When Called Upon
Consider a fifth grade boy who, researchers found, could flawlessly march through the steps of subtracting 2 5/6 from 3 1/3, ending up quite comectly with 3/6 and then reducing that to 1/2.. Unfortunately, successful performance of this final reduction does not imply understanding that the two fractions are equivalent. In fact, this student remarked in an interviens that 1/2 was larger than 3/6 because “the denominator is smaller so the pieces are larger." Meanwhile, one of his classmates, whose answer had been marked wrong because it hadn't been expressed in the correct terms, clearly had a better grasp of the underlying concepts. Intrigued, these researchers proceeded to interview a number of fifth graders about another topic (division) and discovered that 41 percent had memorized the process without really understanding the idea, while 11 percent understood the concept but made minor errors that resulted in getting the wrong answers. A standardized test therefore would have misclassified more than half of these students.
Green Card Seekers Must Leave U.S. to Apply, Trump Administration Says The decision is likely to affect hundreds of thousands of people and could lead to more family separations, immigration lawyers said.
So the Trump administration's apparent attempts to secure political control over the armed services, as well as the EB.L and ICE, stand out as worrying even when compared with other cases, Ms. Frantz said. Elected leaders “tinkering with” the security services “tends to be something that we see once a system has already transitioned to authoritarianism,” she said, rather than when democracy is in decline. Mr. Glassel and Mr. Scharpf are concerned that President Trump's planned expansion of ICE, in particular, could make it an ideal venue for “detouring” by ambitious underperformers who could be deployed for anti-democratic purposes. The worry is especially profound given the storming of the Capitol at the end of Mr. Trump's first term, albeit by a less organized band of loyalists. The playbook for a leader to create a loyal security service, they said, is to set up or repurpose an institution that can become a “second ladder” for career promotions, resource it generously and ensure that the barriers to getting hired there are low, signaling that it offers career opportunities to those who cannot find them elsewhere. (Cutting other government jobs or squeezing budgets can create a larger pool of potential recruits.) The leadership then signals impunity for people on that second ladder, to assure them that they won't face consequences for wrongdoing.
NYT - MAY 19, 2026 ‘It’s crucial to strategically leverage controllable content to enhance Kathy's online narrative.’ - MAC CUMMINGS, co-founder of Terakeet, on how his company would shield Kathryn Ruemmler’s reputation from the evidence of her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Headline: "Israeli nationalists chant 'death to Arabs' in violent Jerusalem Day march
[from PC World] Googlebooks are the first anti-personal computers Computers used to wait for your commands. Now Al-first machines (like the Googlebook) try to predict your intentions before you've fully fleshed them out.
How the Trump Administration Ended Independent Science at the E.PA. The agency's prestigious research office spent decades doing scientific work insulated from political pressure. Now it’s being dismantled.
Trump's repost of Trump cultists praising him as "the greatest of all time"
At the same time as A.IL erodes ordinary workers’ leverage, it may concentrate power and wealth in large companies and the U.S. government — two entities whose interests are increasingly linked. A.I-related investments such as software and data centers accounted for 39 percent of U.S. economic growth in the first three-quarters of 2025, per an analysis by the St. Louis Fed. That gives the federal government a vested interest in sustaining the A.I. boom. Mr. Amodei acknowledges that this concentration can lead to “the reluctance of tech companies to criticize the U.S. government, and the government’s support for extreme anti-regulatory policies on A.I.