"Alfie Kohn has a knack for bursting the bubbles that surround just about every school topic imaginable, from putting kids into uniforms to make them behave better to raising kids self esteem by rewarding them with stickers and pizza for reading books and doing homework. This volume examines what's right with education, advocating schools that support children's innate desire to learn; schools that treat students as individuals, not widgets; and classrooms in which positive values are absorbed rather than drilled. Introduction ix Part One: Classroom Mismanagement 1(44) The Limits of Teaching Skills 3(5) The Trouble with School Uniforms 8(3) Beyond Discipline 11(5) How Not to Teach Values: A Critical Look at Character Education 16(29) Part Two: American Ideology Goes to School 45(64) Resistance to Cooperative Learning: Making Sense of Its Deletion and Dilution 47(22) ``A Lot of Fat Kids Who Don't Like to Read'': The Effects of Pizza Hut's Book It! Program and Other Reading Incentives 69(4) Grading: The Issue Is Not How But Why 73(9) Grade Inflation and Other Red Herrings 82(3) Only for My Kid: How Privileged Parents Undermine School Reform 85(24) Part Three: Unquestioned Assumptions About Children 109(78) Suffer the Restless Children: Unsettling Questions About the ADHD Label 111(24) The Truth About Self-Esteem 135(31) Television and Children: ReViewing the Evidence 166(21) Part Four: Business as Usual 187(38) The Five-Hundred-Pound Gorilla 189(18) The False Premises of School Choice Plans 207(3) Students Don't ``Work''---They Learn 210(5) The Littlest Customers: TQM Goes to School 215(10) Part Five: Lessons Learned 225(56) Caring Kids: The Role of the Schools 227(22) Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide 249(28) What to Look for in a Classroom 277(4) Index 281(8) The Author 289