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.

Gardner studied for an Bachelor of Arts degree in social relations at Harvard (1965) with thesis titled The retirement community in America and read philosophy and sociology at the London School of Economics from 1965 to 1966. The focus of his work for the past fifteen years has been in the Good Work Project. He is also currently a board member at Amherst College and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Gardner is still considering a ninth existential intelligence (the posing and pondering of "big questions") but has not yet added it. Since 1999 Gardner has identified eight intelligences: linguistic logic-mathematical musical spatial bodily/kinesthetic interpersonal intrapersonal and naturalistic. He is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences as outlined in his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983).