Ever since he went to Wyoming Seminary secondary school, Howard Gardner
says he has been captivated with three virtues: “Truth, Beauty, and
Goodness” – known at “Sem” as Verum, Pulchrum, Bonum, in his school’s
motto.” He concluded that his own life should be guided by these values.
In his Book, The Disciplined Mind (Penguin Books 2000), he
argued that parents, educators and the public at large should strive to
enhance these virtues in K – 12 education. The book was not without
critics. As an example, in an age of social media, who decides what’s
good or true or beautiful? In Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed: Education for the Virtues in the Era of Truthiness and Twitter
(Basic Books 2012), Gardner explored which aspects of the virtues could
be sustained in our time, and which “had to be rethought, modestly or
fundamentally.”
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