Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community.

Unlike most books on traditional discipline approaches, this one does not offer quick fixes or promises of unconditional love. Instead, Kohn makes assumptions about children and their needs - for example, that children are "self-centered and power drunk" - and encourages adults to keep children's interests, needs and experiences at the center of their approach while encouraging children toward more moral behavior. Unraveling the objectives of highly acknowledged discipline programs, Kohn leads the reader to a more positive approach and a higher level in understanding children.

Kohn argues against logical consequences, punishments and rewards, instead asking teachers to examine their practices and values. "What are we asking children to do?," "How does the classroom feel [to children]?" and "What are the tasks?" are critical questions that teachers should ask themselves. This different approach may help teachers stop blaming children for "misbehavior" and instead consider that children's behavior could be a result of teachers' own inappropriate practices, including the use of worksheets and tests, as well as their belief that adults must always be in control.

Kohn believes that methods such as coercion, punishment, demands for compliance, bribes and threats simply do not work. Instead, he encourages readers to build communities of learners by, among other things, developing a learner-centered curriculum where children have a choice in what they learn and can make important decisions about how schooling will take place. Teachers must work on developing relationships, teaching skills, diagnosing situations, questioning their own practices and maximizing student involvement to bring about this community.

Kohn asks teachers to do a paradigm shift: What would happen if children had a say in their classroom? He states

Kids tend to be more respectful when their need to make decisions is respected; they are likely to be better behaved when there is no need for them to struggle to assert their autonomy . . . students are more likely to go along with a request when they have some choice about how to carry it out.

Each chapter takes the reader closer to a constructivist framework. Near the end, the reader, certainly this reader, has a better understanding of where discipline fits into the classroom - that is, certainly not as classroom management nor as a separate subject, but rather as an effective approach to help children become critical thinkers and responsible people.

The first appendix answers questions that educators and parents may have about Kohn's democratic discipline approach, including why Kohn would not toss out kids who keep others in a classroom from learning, or what happens when children get one message at home and another at school. The second appendix is a glossary of terms characteristically used by "assertive discipline" authorities, with a "twist of lemon" by Kohn.

Reviewed by Judy Williston, Professor of Teacher Education, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti

Note: "The Truth About Self-Esteem" by Kohn was the focus article of the December 1994 issue of Kappan, and his previous book, Punishment and Rewards, is a must for people who are straggling over issues concerning children and praise.