You Know What They Say: The Truth About Popular Beliefs

by Alfie Kohn

Putting our frequently incorrect conventional wisdom to the test through research, this book demonstrates the validity of popular beliefs, truisms, folk wisdom, and proverbs

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. The author of fourteen books and scores of articles, he lectures at education conferences and universities as well as to parent groups and corporations.

Kohn's criticisms of competition and rewards have been widely discussed and debated, and he has been described in Time magazine as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores."

Kohn lives (actually) in the Boston area with his wife and two children, and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.org.

Reviews

[Victoria Marie Lees · Rating 3 out of 5]

You Know What They Say: The Truth About Popular Beliefs by Alfie Kohn is a compilation of folk sayings and proverbs. Kohn uses social scientist studies and various research to determine whether these sayings are true. He also offers comment as to the sense of the saying. The book is quite interesting.

While I was correct in some of my interpretations of the sayings, I learned the truth about others. One in particular was valuable to me. It deals with grouping students by ability in the classroom. This supposedly allows them to learn better. I know firsthand this is not true. I fought to have my learning disabled daughter included in the regular classroom to be able to learn all she could. According to the research Kohn found, I was right. In a classroom of mixed ability students, the children learn from each other as well as the teacher. They feel good about themselves. They are challenged by engaging material instead of repetitive worksheets. Thanks, Alfie!

[Minerva P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally finished the book. I liked how the author provided many different research to show both sides of most arguments. It is an old book and some of the information is outdated. There has been new studies claiming different things. I myself, was just reading to read it but it’s not bad, just not anything I would see myself reading again. I will be giving away/donating this book for others to read.

[Natalie Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting book, but it kinda bored me a little. Plus, at this point it is kind of dated.