Celeb Sighting

Kristin and I heard Alfie Kohn speak at Rockford College a few weeks ago, and surprised him when we asked to take a photo with him! Alfie writes and speaks widely about what's wrong with school, and is very vocal about the evils of testing, No-Child-Left-Behind, and the use of grades and rewards. He is a very charismatic and dynamic speaker, and had us laughing when we weren't shaking our heads in dismay at the state of things. I have a few of his books, including Punished By Rewards and What Does It Mean to be Well Educated? and while I agree with his arguments and find him incredibly insightful, where I get hung up is in asking the obvious question... can it be fixed? I commend him for taking it on and campaigning for educators and administrators to rethink what they're doing and why they're doing it, but talk about pushing sh*t up a hill... I'm still not willing to lose my kids for 12 years to a system that isn't going to change any time soon, if ever. Is it the worst place in the world? Not usually. (*grin*) But just because it isn't the worst place doesn't mean one ought to spend 12 years there and not seek the best path to learning what you want to learn and doing what you want to do. Once again, would've loved to steal him away for a cup of coffee and some intense conversation, but at the risk of being a celebrity stalker, we decided to get our books signed and leave it at that.