Here's a quote I really like about the purpose of education. The author talks about the role of education in children's development but I think his views are applicable throughout education, and throughout the lifespan. For more by this author check out http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm I believe that Gardner's work becomes ever more important as educators begin to consider the ramifications to education of technology trends in the information age (like social software).
"The single most important contribution that education
can make to a child's development is to help him
towards a field where his talents best suit him, where
he will be satisfied and competent. We've completely
lost sight of that. Instead, we subject everyone to an
education where, if you succeed, you will be best
suited to be a college professor. And we evaluate
everyone along the way according to whether they meet
that narrow standard of success. We should spend less
time ranking children and more time helping them to
identify their natural competencies and gifts, and
cultivate those. There are hundreds and hundreds of
ways to succeed, and many, many different abilities
that will help you get there."
-Howard Gardner quote in Daniel Goleman's Emotional
Intelligence, 1995, p. 37.
Friday, May 11, 2007
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1 comments:
Howard Gardner's work is highly referenced as being core information and has influenced many of our best thinkers. This is a nice synopsis article of his ideas. Many people take it for granted that it's true.
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