In Gardner's Words
I am amazed and gratified about the amount of work being done both in this country and abroad on multiple intelligences. The issue of Educational Leadership (Sept. 1997) will help people to see how the ideas can be applied productively, and perhaps also warn them away from the more superficial applications of the theory.
—Howard Gardner, Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Clarification on Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles
"Integrating Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences" by Silver, Strong, and Perini (Sept. 1997) seeks to find balance between what some feel are competing—rather than complementary—views: MI Theory and Learning Styles Theory. The quote on page 23, however, turns the article's message backwards.
As the authors accurately state, "Learning styles are concerned with the process of learning, whereas multiple intelligences center on the content and products of learning," (p. 22), not vice versa as the quote suggests. Please alert your readers to this inconsistency.
—Adrienne (Andi) Sosin, Associate Professor, Pace University, New York, New York.
Editor's note: We apologize for this error.
Make Room for Music Education
As a music teacher in the Bronx, I see myself as a purveyor of the arts who encourages learning within and beyond my classroom. My curriculum includes a dash of history, a healthy dose of performance, and a splash of music theory. Unfortunately, music education receives little attention in Educational Leadership.
Though the magazine publishes instructional information for all academic teachers, it does not adequately address the arts, keeping them separate from what Howard Gardner calls the rest of the intelligences. John Dewey told us years ago that music is essential to a proper education. Reading and math scores improve when music and the arts are completely integrated into the school curriculum.
—Lawrence R. Del Casale, Teacher, Cortlandt Manor, New York.
