One of the world’s top experts on education delivers an uplifting memoir on his own personal failures and successes as he sought to become a good learner and teacher.
“A page turner. With candor and clarity, Tony Wagner tells the story of his remarkable life and, in so doing, tells the story of our education system.”
Angela Duckworth, Founder and CEO, Character Lab, and
New York Times bestselling author of Grit
Tony Wagner is an eminent education specialist: he has taught at every grade level from high school through graduate school; worked at Harvard; done significant work for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and speaks across the country and all over the world. But before he found his success, Wagner was kicked out of middle school, expelled from high school, and dropped out of two colleges. Learning by Heart is his powerful account of his years as a student and teacher.
After struggling in both roles, he learned to create meaningful learning experiences despite the constraints of conventional schooling–initially for himself and then for his students–based on understanding each student’s real interests and strengthening his or her intrinsic motivations. Wagner’s story sheds light on critical issues facing parents and educators today, and reminds us that trial and error, resilience, and respect for the individual, are at the very heart of all teaching and learning.
“Dr. Tony Wagner has given us a great gift with this autobiography. In teaching us how to develop the potential of our students, he reveals himself in a way most successful people do not, showing his failures as well of successes. He shows educators that when we challenge ourselves to ask what is the purpose of education and how do we best serve that purpose even when you swim against the current, it starts building a powerful purposeful student-centered environment in which our students can thrive. Tony makes it clear none of us can do this alone, but in taking us through his journey, he demonstrates the power of education and educators.”
— Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers
“Learning By Heart is an important series of stories that could and should spark many discussions. Highly recommended - and hard to put down.”
—Ulrik Juul Christensen, MD Executive Chairman, Area9 Group
“Eloquent, intimate…Tony Wagner’s memoir is a much-needed account of how unconventional kids navigate a conventional education. I love this book, find hope in Wagner’s story, and will be recommending it to parents who worry that their children won’t find their way in the world.”
—Jessica Lahey, New York Times bestselling author of The Gift of Failure
“Tony Wagner’s journey from being a bad student to being one of the world’s expert educators is a story that serves as a testament to the value of living out your true beliefs. Learning by Heart shows how any individual can achieve fulfillment by being true to their individuality.”
—Todd Rose, Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education, President, Populace
“If you think you know what it means to be ‘smart’ or a ‘lifelong learner’ read Learning By Heart and be prepared to have your assumptions challenged. Neither smart nor learning are likely to take place on a straight and narrow road where high grades and test scores meet compliance and memorization. Wagner artfully reminds us of what we already know, that smart and learning take place at a far different intersection, one where curiosity, creativity and perseverance meet.”
—Madeline Levine, Ph.D. Co-founder Challenge Success, Stanford Graduate School of Education, author of The Price of Privilege and Ready or Not
“Visionary Tony Wagner is a master storyteller about his lifetime journey through the education system starting when he was a child through his life as a teacher and as a student at Harvard. This is essential reading for anyone undertaking a career in education. So much wisdom is packed into these pages.”
- Esther Wojcicki, Founder, Palo Alto High Media Arts Program, Author, How to Raise Successful People
“Wagner’s personal trials and tribulations as a teacher and school head made him the leading modern ethnographer of how schools change. His memoir is an indictment of traditional content- based secondary education and a call for a more humane ecologically minded, learner-centric system. As Tony says, “What matters most is not what you know, but rather what you can do with what you know”, and this has been central to his practice and is now more relevant than ever as we reconsider learning for the innovation age.”
- Tom Vander Ark, CEO, Getting Smart, Author, first Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
“I read Tony Wagner’s story of his personal journey with great pleasure. He explains how a boy who hated school but loved learning found the education that was just right for him. This book has profound lessons for educators today about motivating young people like Tony.”
—Diane Ravitch, Historian & Author
“An intriguing and moving account of how a wayward student became a master teacher as well as a thought leader in education.”
-Howard Gardner, Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
“From his captivating memoir, “Learning by Heart," we discover that Tony Wagner has been everywhere and knows everyone worth knowing. Opportunities to learn from the legendary Ivan Illich, the remarkable David Reisman, the Summerhill folks, and many more were part of his own complicated (and entertaining) journey of self-discovery. I admire Tony’s gumption, his refusal to follow conventional wisdom, his unflinching honesty about his own failures, and his unshakable belief that there’s a better world out there-- and that he was destined to improve the work of teachers everywhere.”
—John Merrow, Education Correspondent, PBS NewsHour, 1984-2015; NPR, 1974-1982
Founding President of Learning Matters
“Tony Wagner asks fearless questions to change the course of a classroom, or a life, including his own. His compelling memoir, Learning by Heart, revels in rich storytelling to reveal why classrooms –– or conversations –– demand deep listening for anyone ready to learn the compelling lessons of the heart. His life quest and this book delivers.”
— Hal Gregersen, Executive Director of the MIT Leadership Center and a Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Best-selling author
“A page turner. With candor and clarity, Tony Wagner tells the story of his remarkable life and, in so doing, tells the story of our education system.”
— Angela Duckworth, Founder and CEO, Character Lab, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
"Tony Wagner has written an irresistible coming-of-age memoir that is an extended reverie on education -- what it is, what it’s not, and why it matters. As Wagner walks us through his journey, he shows us not only how he learned to love to learn, but also how he learned to pass that love on to others. This story of mental, emotional, and moral awakening will touch your heart.”
— Daniel H. Pink, author of WHEN and DRIVE
"How to educate our children is one of the most contested questions of our times. Tony Wagner is one of the clearest voices. Written with a novelist’s flair and sensibility, Learning By Heart is an unflinching account of an impassioned, often conflicted life in education. Weaving through half a century of social and political upheavals, Tony Wagner takes us on a vivid journey from his childhood struggles to find his own way in school, to his innovative, internationally acclaimed work helping countless others to find theirs. Too often the human intricacies of schooling are obscured by lifeless league tables. Part memoir, part manifesto, Learning By Heart is a powerful counter blast: a full-blooded testament to the inescapably personal nature of teaching and learning.”
— Sir Ken Robinson, Educator and New York Times Bestselling author
“This is the rare memoir by a famous, Harvard-trained educator that talks honestly and candidly about how humiliating, demoralizing, and deeply boring traditional schooling can be for some students, and how much it needs to be improved for all —whether grade school kids in the nation’s most impoverished schools or doctoral students in its finest graduate programs. Learning By Heart exposes the twinned problems of authority and shame cooked into our traditional educational institutions and generously offers an alternative way of learning based on purpose, respect, inspiration, joy, and even love.”
— Cathy N. Davidson, Founding Director, The Futures Initiative, The Graduate Center, CUNY, and author of The New Education: How We Can Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World in Flux.
“America’s foremost education thought leader delivers a riveting memoir brimming with insight into the man, the field of education, and the underpinnings of our democracy. While Dr. Wagner’s career has achieved unparalleled success, he writes exclusively about his formative early years, bringing unchecked honesty to the struggles, setbacks, breakthroughs, and lifelines that forged his inspiring education worldview. True to Wagner’s guiding principle, this compelling memoir will help you make sense of yourself and the world around you.”
—Ted Dintersmith, Author, What School Could Be, and Executive Producer of the Sundance-acclaimed documentary Most Likely to Succeed
“Rarely does a book on education soar above its genre - advice for academics. This one does. It’s a memoir - a confession, really - by one of those students who just couldn’t make it in school to save his life, but save it he does. Forged out of failure, confusion and shame — both as student and floundering teacher — Learning by Heart, transforms the young Tony Wagner’s pain into a journey of compassion, imagination, wit and, finally triumphant success. Wagner’s hard-won, practical prescriptions for motivating kids, especially the school-haters, will appeal to teachers and parents. But fast-paced, original and beautifully written, it deserves a wider audience. One of the most honest and useful memoirs I’ve read in recent years.”
—Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, former editor New York Times Book Review.
“Wagner’s passionate memoir serves as blueprint for educators looking to inspire their own students.”
- Publisher’s Weekly
“Wagner (Creating Innovators, 2012) has found success as a teacher, administrator, researcher, professor, speaker, author, and as a prominent voice in education policy. As a student, though, Wagner struggled: he despised school as a young boy. Here he tells of his tumultuous journey through his school years. Kicked out of middle school, expelled from high school and a two-time college dropout, Wagner was disenchanted with education from an early age, frustrated by impersonal teachers and tedious schoolwork. He eventually found his place at an alternative Quaker college. Determined to make a difference for others, he attended Harvard graduate school to study how schools can truly create change. This honest and thoughtful memoir reminds readers what's at the heart of learning—a unique individual—and that school cannot be a one-size fits-all approach. After finally becoming the teacher he always needed himself, Wagner now continues to work tirelessly to advance and inspire the field of education. “Teachers cannot do this work alone. We must all play our part. We are all teachers–stewards of future generations–if we choose to be.”
- Booklist
