The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand

In previous books, Professor Gardner has introduced us to important concepts like multiple intelligences (Frames of Mind) and how little university graduates can make practical application of anything they learn (The Unschooled Mind). In The Disciplined Mind, he takes those concepts and combines them to define a minimum educational standard: Introducing students to the thought processes of major disciplines to appreciate important issues from the perspective of multiple intelligences. To exemplify the point, Professor Gardner develops examples of his concept involving Darwin's Finches (as a window on evolutionary thinking), one scene from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart (as a window onto social commentary and music) and the Wannsee Conference in Nazi Germany (as a window onto the banal evil of the Holocaust). He sees the fundamental questions that education should address as following into the subjects of truth, beauty and goodness (or good versus evil) which these three examples epitomize. Those sections were great fun, but the most valuable part of the book comes in chapter 10 where he addresses "Getting There". It's a marvelous description of how to create positive organizational change within education. Professor Gardner gets tough in pointing out that good leadership is essential. Otherwise, multidisciplinary means just messing around with whatever appeals to you . . . and not learning a darn thing of lasting importance. I can relate to that point. One of my first college courses was intended to teach us the historical discipline by working with primary sources about the Entresol Club in France before the Revolution. But the case didn't really work for that purpose and the leadership was muddled. The only thing I learned was the entresol was the floor above the ground floor in a French building. That has helped me in elevators several times since then. But I had to learn the historical discipline elsewhere. He points out several key lessons: Have a long-term perspective Be flexible and seek small victories Anticipate setbacks and be prepared for them Allow time for reflection Build on strengths Pay attention to implicit messages in the institutional culture Create a community that cares Visit and be visited Cultivate new energies Commit yourself to the process of change I was reminded of Peter Senge's excellent book, The Dance of Change, as I read this section. The next best part of the book came in chapter 9 where Professor Gardner explained how multiple intelligences can be brought to bear for understanding. This material is a classic for introducing any important subject: 1. Provide powerful points of entry that engage students. 2. Offer apt analogies to make the material accessible. 3. Deliver multiple representations of the core ideas of the topic that capture each of the multiple intelligences. Many of the people who have been honored with the MacArthur Prize Fellowship (the so-called Genius award) fail t

Fortunately for readers (and anyone connected to education), Gardner has not been idle since he first published his benchmark book Frames of Mind. I sincerely appreciated reading how he has continued to develop his thinking in cognitive psychology and his suggestions for education need to be taken seriously as a blueprint for change. Along with Postman, Kohn, Ravitch, Darling-Hammond, Allen, and Perrone, Gardner takes the position that education relates cultural values as much as anything. Further, those values need to engage the student in sustained, meaningful encounters in science, art, and narrative that produce a vigorous, cognitive growth. His candid suggestions for educators to assimilate units on truth, beauty, and goodness suggest that Gardner is not only willing to make a radical suggestions for the advancement of learning among children (in the spirit of Dewey and Bruner), but also that the humanitarian interests in education are worth sustaining; that is, for Gardner, meaning needs to take ascendency in our instruction.Gardner is a fantastic writer. He has a gift for explanation and explication; I recommend the book if only for the Appendix. He delineates between two world views in education and it is worth the price of the book itself. Yes, his suggestions are radical and extreme, but being normal is only taking education down to a new nadir. I heartily endorse this book.

I picked up this book because the local school system is experimenting with Gardner's multiple intelligences approach. As an interested parent, but not an educator, I found this book engaging and encouraging. It motivates me to get involved in the local school system and more actively involved in their education so that my two boys can benefit from at least some small part of the enlightened approach to schooling that Gardner describes. Not just the multiple intelligences perspective, but the education for understanding and the emphasis on deep exploration of important disciplines and explicit consideration of truth, beauty and morality. Stressing the learning of powerful ways to think over covering some broad checklist of important facts is great, although Gardner also acknowledges that certain core material on citizenship and basic literacy should be learned by all.

It is interesting that as everyone rushes to quick fix education that they disregard the potential of different learning styles. This book is powerful in many ways, but the best chapter for those of us in the field to read is the one that explains how cultures educate their children. We have some things to learn about children. I hope the book, tied to Dr. Gardner's theory, will continue to open minds. Without his insights the National Board process would have been far more difficult to do. It was his work that opened my eyes to the needs and styles of my students. I learned to assess their personal growth and became a more reflective teacher.

Howard Gardner continues to be the leading thinker on issues of education and developing our various intelligences. In his latest book, he breaks fertile new ground by linking a bold vision for education with the increasing needs to develop citizens for a more civil society. Anyone interested in leadership and personal development, as well as education, should read this book.