A conversation with Charles Handy
Wednesday, November 30 2005
In particular, as a parent of a toddler and someone who has recently started thinking A LOT about pre-school and education in general, I found this statement very interesting:
I think that one trend that's coming is that every child should understand at an early age his or her intelligence profile. This follows psychologist Howard Gardner's idea that there are several different kinds of intelligences -- analytical, interpersonal, practical, physical, musical, and so on. People simply have different aptitudes. Once we have identified those, we can design an individual curriculum which, for at least half of the school time, concentrates on developing those particular intelligences, irrespective of the core base of the teaching.
I couldn't agree more! I was a 4.0 student through school, but not because I was extremely interested in all or even most of the subjects. Quite frankly, I was just really good at using what I call "subject matter common sense" while taking tests. Most of the time I could easily rule out most of the options (for multiple choice) or subject matter (for essay) based on the question's context and then apply my basic knowledge of the subject in a logical manner.
Anyway, I graduated from college with a BS in Accounting, but not because of a real passion for the subject. I selected accounting because I seemed to have an affinity for math and it seemed like a good way to make a decent living. I found out after being in public accounting for a few years that I hated it! Perhaps if I had been able to pursue more 'personal interests' in school I might have leaned in a different direction...like computers! ;-) That would have given me a 10 year start on my current career!
In all fairness, I must give my Mom some credit here. A few times during my teenage years she paid to have me go through 'profiling' interviews/exams in which they tried to pinpoint the things that Charles talks about in the excerpt above...my areas of intelligences. They definitely pointed out that I am very analytical and it was beneficial for me to know that during certain times of my life.
Anyway, it's a very interesting article. Check it out!
~tod
Tags: ramblings
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