“THE HIDDEN INTELLIGENCES: HOW CAN THEY HELP HUMANS IN THE 21st CENTURY…”

• …Rather than human beings having a single intelligence, which can be adequately assessed by an instrument like an IQ test, human beings are better thought of as having a set of capacities.

• The intelligences are like a mental chemistry set – you can create a poison or a an antibiotic with chemical elements.

• … And not surprisingly, “MI approaches” to education are more likely to be found in smaller and more flexible educational environments.

• … Nearly every day, I hear from educators all over the world, who have found these ideas compelling, and who sometimes combine them with an interest in ‘the good project’.

• For the first time in human history, we have developed machines and approaches (like deep learning and other forms of ‘artificial intelligence’) which equal or surpass human capacities.

• So the intelligences in themselves are amoral. They need to be yoked to a purpose and that purpose can be positive or destructive. And that’s why my colleagues and I have been studying Good Work – work that is technically excellent, personally engaged, and carried out in an ethical manner.

• If readers are interested, they should look at the website for www.thegoodproject.org and write to hgasst@gse.harvard.edu

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Question 1 | The concept

Question 2 | MI and the current model of education

You say that there are 2 main educational implications: Individuation (also termed personalization) and Pluralization (Ideas, concepts, theories, skills should be taught in several different ways). How can the current standardised, competitive-based and non-inclusive current model of education move towards this approach?

As you imply, it’s easier to individuate when you have a more progressive, more flexible educational system, than when you have a ‘one size fits all’ approach.  And not surprisingly, “MI approaches” to education are more likely to be found in smaller and more flexible educational environments.

But any teacher and any school can decide to pay more attention to individual differences; and certainly any schools can approach complex concepts and procedures in a variety of ways.  That’s a choice to be made by teachers and by the heads of school. And when they choose to embrace individuation and pluralization, and the students learn more or better, then there’s no need to revert to more old-fashioned approaches.

One other important thing:  In the age of the internet and the web, it is possible to individuate and to personalize as much as one wants to. No need for ‘one size fits all’ any more. But of course, that means that you can’t just do social media (like Facebook). You have to explore the web and approach important concepts and processes in ways that are comfortable to you, the learner – take courses, converse with others, and the like.

“It would not be correct to say that ‘the educational system’

has moved towards my or anyone else models.

There are hundreds of countries and millions of schools!”

Question 3 | The answer of the educational system

You are right that these ideas are several decades old, and I have nuanced some of my views since then. It would not be correct to say that ‘the educational system’ has moved towards my or anyone else models. There are hundreds of countries and millions of schools!

I can say that whether or not parents and teachers have heard of me, or know the phrase ‘multiple intelligences’, these ideas have had considerable influence in education around the world.  In 2009 my colleagues and I published a 400 page book ‘Multiple intelligences around the world’.  Forty-two scholars in 15 countries on five continents described ways in which they used “MI ideas” in schools, museums, workplace, and other educational contexts.  And nearly every day, I hear from educators all over the world, who have found these ideas compelling, and who sometimes combine them with an interest in ‘the good project’  (see answer #5).!

“For the first time in human history, we have developed

machines and approaches (like deep learning and other forms of ‘artificial intelligence’)

which equal or surpass human capacities”

Question 4 | MI in the 21st century

That’s a good and complex question. For the first time in human history, we have developed machines and approaches (like deep learning and other forms of ‘artificial intelligence‘) which equal or surpass human capacities. In some cases, we will not need to draw on certain human intelligences because the relevant tasks are solved much better and easier than human beings can do.  Also, for the first time in human history, we are understanding the nervous system well enough that we can begin to operate directly on the brain,  diagnose strengths and weaknesses, and perhaps also link the human brain directly to mechanical entities or vice versa.  And to top it all off, we may be able to operate directly on the human genome, thus changing the nature of our species at a speed that has no connection to the speed with which evolution has worked for thousands of years.

So I have little doubt that 100 hundred years from now, if there are psychologists or cognitive scientists (or new creatures!) interested in human cognition, they will draw the map of human intelligences in quite a different way. I’ll bet that it is closer to an “MI” perspective than to the traditional IQ perspective.  But I won’t be around to know the answer!

Source: Long Term Economy on Howard  Gardner MI

“Most professionals focus on selling as much as they can of their existing products

and services. Their work is characterized by following ‘procedures’ and ‘norms’ ”

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Question 5 | MI and Long Term Thinking

As a result of twenty five years of research on Good Work, I think about this question differently. Any human intelligence can be used benignly or destructively. Both the poet Goethe and the propagandist Josef Goebbels had plenty of linguistic intelligence; one used it to write great literature, the other to foment hatred.   Both Nelson Mandela and Slobodan Milosevic had plenty of interpersonal intelligence: the first used his intelligence to heal a wounded country, the other to generate ethnic cleansing.

So the intelligences in themselves are amoral. They need to be yoked to a purpose and that purpose can be positive or destructive.  And that’s why my colleagues and I have been studying Good Work – work that is technically excellent, personally engaged, and carried out in an ethical manner.  And that’s why we have been studying Good Citizenship – an approach to one’s role in various sectors that is informed, involving, and takes into account the needs of the broader society (rather than just one’s own selfish desires).

So when someone says that they are using the idea of “MI”, I ask “To what end?”  And I am delighted if an individual or a group is devoted toward longer term thinking, and toward dealing with crises like the ecological crisis – and my colleagues and I offer to work with them if that proves feasible.  If readers are interested, they should look at the website for www.thegoodproject.org and write to hgasst@gse.harvard.edu 

The ring of responsibilities

* The “rings of responsibility” illustrate how our sense of responsibility widens as we think beyond ourselves to others, to workplaces or communities, to our wider networks, and to society

Source: www.thegoodproject.org

Acknowledgments

Thanks go to Long Term Economy Board (Priscilla Asamoah Baffour, Geetha Packal, Stephen Saunders, Tazeen Siddiqui) and Fatjona Filipi and Grazia Giordano (Long Term Economy collaborators) for their help in making the questionnaire.

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