Creating Schools for All Kinds of Minds

Sample Answer

The statement, “Schools can have a goal that all students are highly productive, but they do not all need to be turning out the same products” (page 206), encapsulates a progressive and nuanced understanding of productivity in education. I strongly agree with this idea, as it aligns with modern pedagogical principles, psychological insights into learning, and the demands of a diverse global economy.

Here's why I agree:

1. Acknowledging Diverse Intelligences and Learning Styles: Traditional education often implicitly, if not explicitly, equates productivity with conformity to a narrow set of outputs, such as standardized test scores, essays of a particular structure, or rote memorization. However, educational psychology, particularly theories like Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, posits that individuals possess different cognitive strengths. Some students excel in linguistic intelligence, others in logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, or naturalistic intelligence.

If a school insists on "the same products," it inherently marginalizes students whose strengths lie outside the dominant academic paradigms. Forcing a kinesthetic learner to express understanding solely through a written essay might stifle their productivity, whereas allowing them to build a model or perform a demonstration could lead to profound and meaningful output.