Howard Gardner is an American psychologist and a professor at Harvard University School of Education. He was born on this day, July 11 in the year 1943.

“You learn at your best when you have something you care about and can get pleasure in being engaged in.”

“If you are not prepared to resign or be fired for what you believe in, then you are not a worker, let alone a professional. You are a slave.”

“Intelligence is the ability to find and solve problems and create products of value in one’s own culture.”

“Stories are the single most powerful tool in a leader’s toolkit.”

“Teachers must be encouraged – I almost said ‘freed’, to pursue an education that strives for depth of understanding.”

“The goal of education is to help people use their mind better.”

“If you think education is expensive, try estimating the cost of ignorance.”

“I want my children to understand the world, but not just because the world is fascinating and the human mind is curious. I want them to understand it so that they will be positioned to make it a better place.”

“The countries who do the best in international comparisons, whether it’s Finland or Japan, Denmark or Singapore, do well because they have professional teachers who are respected, and they also have family and community which support learning.”

“The biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all students as if they were variants of the same individual and thus to feel justified in teaching them all the same subjects the same way.”

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