Personally some of my educational gurus happen be Jean Jacques Rousseau, Howard Gardner, and just anyone progressive really. Jean Jacques Rousseau because he encourages free thinking, and escaping from societies impurities (A little bit of a stretch, some parts of society are very cool). He believed that everyone was born inherently good, but because of society we create constructs, and beliefs that can do harm. I think that free thinking is an amazing trait to have. It can lead to higher-order thinking by asking larger questions. This then also spills a bit into Paulo Friere and his criticism of the banking method of education. We can’t just shove information down people’s throats, we must do more than just lecture, we must allow thinking and collaboration in our classrooms. Howard Gardner revolutionized education through his theory of multiple intelligence’s. When I first heard of this, I was astounded. It makes me wonder on questions such as “Why don’t we focus on honing these natural gifts that vary from people to people?”. In some ways I can see this being limiting, but that doesn’t have to transfer into a career path. 
I really appreciate Howard Gardner because growing up I’ve seen some of my peers struggle through school, and while their GPA may not have reflected “intelligence”, they were very skillful in other areas. But in some public education settings, that doesn’t matter. I have a cousin who was diagnosed with ADHD. He tells me about history class from time to time. This year it’s his favorite subject because the teacher isn’t a banker. One activity that stuck out to me is the use of role-play in history by making a play out of a historical event. We recently read about something like this in another class. The effect it has on my cousin just gives me more reason to use some of these strategies. If I were in the shoes of Howard Gardner I would say my cousin’s strongest intelligence is bodily-kinesthetic. 
Overall, if we were to allow more student-centered learning in our classrooms then we can revolutionize the way we learn. Not just for those who can learn through the banking method, but if we hone higher-order thinking, and hands on learning we can help everyone in the classroom. Especially those who we categorize as “unintelligent”, it frustrates not just our students, but society as whole. We make lasting impacts on human beings, the best we can do is impact them positively.