Minds Viewed Globally – Week 6 Reading

This week’s reading log is Minds Viewed Globally by Howard Gardner. The reading starts off with Gardner explaining to his readers about his work and research in the field of human psychology. Moving further he speculates saying with the concept of ‘minds’, “ a person will be well equipped to deal with what is expected, as well as what cannot be anticipated, without these minds a person will be at the mercy of forces that he or she cant understand, let alone control. So what are these minds?

He describes these minds in five categories –

The Disciplined Minds

The Synthesising Minds

The Creating Minds

The Respectful Minds

The Ethical Minds

HE says the first three minds deals primarily with with cognitive forms and the last two deal with out relations to human beings. The reading then talks about education and science and technology and how these five set of mind in relation can shape the future generation or rather make them more equipped with a certain teaching method to deal with things. A phrase by Aristotle which goes by ‘It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it’ comes to my head reading about new approaches one might need to take. Finally the article talks about Globalisation and links it with education and a concept of world-class standards be it at school or workplace. He argues that the education system even today prepares students for the world of past rather than possible world of future to which I strongly agree. But one can also argue that one needs to know the past to be guided in the future. Expanding more to that Gardner says that there is indeed no way to fashion an education system that will yield individuals who are disciplined, synthesised, creative, respectful and ethical. He says as human beings we have potential to be extremely positive and says that the education system should realise these remarkable representations. But thats not the whole thing. The future should be equally aware of the wrongs humans have done in order to avoid them in the future and not just know about the positives.

‘Balance’ as Mr. Miyagi says.

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