Profiles In Education:
Interview with Howard Gardner, Harvard University
By Pola Rosen, Ed.D.
Howard
Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Education and Cognition at the
Harvard Graduate School of Education is a seminal thinker
with a great influence on what’s happening in education
today. Sitting in his office in historic Cambridge, just steps from Harvard
Yard, I couldn’t help but feel the aura of the man, the educator, the
writer, the philosopher and the mentor to scores of students and teachers around
the country.
Perhaps best
known for his theory on multiple intelligences (MI), Gardner believes that
families should choose from any of 6-12 pathways of knowledge that fit into
their cultural and intellectual style. Every pathway should have a few key
ideas and “we
should organize the curriculum around that.” Gardner underscores “organization” as
being key and that he would opt to send his children to a “well-organized
school that offers a traditional education as opposed to a multiple intelligences
school that was chaotic.”
He continues that one of the
most important things in the 21st century is synthesizing knowledge and that
integrating knowledge across the grades in all curriculum areas is extremely
effective. The Ross School in East Hampton, a school with which Gardner has
worked for a decade, is a prime example. (See Education Update’s article on the Ross School, Sept. 2003 at
www.EducationUpdate.com.)
The school with which Gardner
has worked most closely over the years is the Key School in Indianapolis, the
first multiple intelligences school in the country. Approaching its 20th year,
the school reports that the students are excelling. On a recent visit, Gardner
noted that all of them were learning the violin and were listening intently
to an accomplished visiting violinist whom they later bombarded with questions.
A general philosophy of MI prevalent in the Key school is that teachers are
working together.
Gardner’s background
as a young pianist, and a continuing interest in the arts, launched us into
a discussion on the arts and their role in education. The forthcoming Rand
Report, he stated, will emphasize that the arts are intrinsically important.
Gardner shares Rand’s skepticism regarding correlations between raised
test scores and studying the arts. The studies are colored. Students who major
in the arts get higher test scores because they happen to come from schools
that have more resources. “The truth is that the arts are one of the
most wonderful things humans are capable of.”
Gardner does
a great deal of work with cultural institutions and is involved with their
education committees. He and his team provide soft evaluation rather than
hard evaluation. That is, getting a sense of what an institution wants to
do and giving it appropriate feedback. He has worked with Lincoln Center
Institute and its leaders, Professor Maxine Green and Executive Director
Scott Noppe-Brandon who, according to Gardner, “have ably fashioned
the outstanding programs there.”
Commenting on
the most effective approaches to teaching the arts, Gardner emphatically
stated that a once a year visit does not impact on students’ lives. “Ninety
percent of Americans have the one fifth grade visit to the museum of fine
arts. But for an arts and music program to truly be effective, visits must
occur on an ongoing basis, in addition to the need for preparing students
prior to visiting with a debriefing afterward. It is crucial to introduce
concepts and materials to the students before they view a program so that
their final exposure to the arts is climactic. Of equal importance is following
up with numerous experiences in the weeks after the program.”
I asked Gardner
about his opinion of the tests recently implemented in New York City to decide
whether fifth graders should be promoted or held back. He responded, “We
know from the experiences in Chicago that children do not benefit from being
held back. In fact, they may opt out of the public school system by dropping
out. The way to raise test scores would be to eliminate the dropouts and
test only the ones that remain. The mayor and the chancellor of NYC schools
are ignoring the experiences in the Chicago public schools. The direction
we should be going
in is to provide individualized programs for all of our students.”
Gardner’s major work
for the past several years has focused on examining successful professionals
and their decision-making: whether they do what’s right rather than what’s
expedient. His co-authored book, Making Good (2004)
describes young professionals who would like to carry out work that is both
excellent and ethical. Yet, determined to succeed, many feel they can’t
afford to behave in an ethical manner, instead deferring such conduct to a
time after success has been achieved. Gardner and his student Jessica Sara
Benjamin found that one of the reasons might be the decline of community leaders
which they called “trustees.” During the summer of 2004, they carried
out a pilot project to investigate how contemporary citizens view trusteeship.
[Trustees are defined as individuals who have earned the right to advise on
consequential decisions for the rest of the society.] The pilot study revealed
fascinating choices of trustees including Tom Brokaw, Thomas Friedman, Jimmy
Carter, Ralph Nader, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and Pope John Paul II, among
others.
Gardner’s own personal
choices of trustees include Jimmy Carter, Bill Gates, George Soros, Paul Farmer,
and John Gardner (no relation), who headed the Carnegie Corporation and was
a true public servant. When I asked Professor Gardner who his mentors were,
Jerome Bruner headed the list. “I worked for him in 1965 on the fifth
grade curriculum. He was not only a mentor, but also a role model. He is now
teaching the role of narrative at NYU law school.”
At the close
of the interview, I couldn’t help but think of the students fortunate
enough to study with Professor Gardner and count him as mentor. We may indeed
count him as our choice of trustee of the 21st century.#
