Gene V. Glass, emeritus professor at Arizona State University and an associate of the National Education Policy Center, ponders the ubiquity of the “Shoe Button Complex” among leading “reformers” of education.
In this essay, he recalls a story of a man who became the nation’s leading vendor of “shoe buttons” a century ago. He cornered the market on shoe buttons. He knew everything there was to know about shoe buttons, and he became a very rich man. His great success persuaded him that he was an expert on everything. The essay then refers to the “reformers” who think that their fabulous wealth entitles them to opine on how to re-engineer schools. They don’t listen to people who work in schools or people who are researchers and scholars of education, because those people are not fabulously wealthy; in the eyes of those who have cornered the market on shoe buttons or computers, the opinion of mere educators counts for nothing. Educators, in the eyes of “reformers,” are the status quo because they are educators. Better to trust someone who has never taught or studied the subject in depth.
Glass suggests that Bill Gates and his wife Melinda may be prime examples of the Shoe Button Complex. And then there is Arizona, where he finds this scenario:
Jan Brewer, Republican governor of Arizona and famous for issuing a tongue wagging to President Obama, appointed Intel ex-CEO Craig Barrett to chair a council—Ready Arizona–to study and recommend public education reform for the state. It is unclear what Barrett knows about education. One suspects that we are encountering another case of the Shoe Button Complex. Barrett is urging businesses to push school reform. His public utterances strike familiar chords: the future of the entire state rests on the test scores of little kids; more science and math majors will attract businesses to the state; it’s a global economy. After all, the public schools are “suppliers” of labor for businesses. And at Intel, “if a supplier didn’t meet our specifications, we would call the supplier and say, ‘Meet our specifications or we will fire you.’” Apparently, Barrett shares his fellow Republican Mitt Romney’s pleasure in firing people.
Of course, what Barrett is actually and unknowingly talking about is crony capitalism: Linking government and business in relationships that favor the economy. Whether the intellectual, moral, physical, and aesthetic well-being of young people is benefited by their education probably never occurs to Barrett and his ilk. Or perhaps “well-being” to Barrett means having acquired a taste for consumerism and a job to support it. In fact, most industry leaders would like to see specialized training pushed down as early in the curriculum as possible so that high school graduates appear in their HR departments job-ready, trained at public expense. And if training kids for Intel just happens to involve piping a bunch of online courses into Arizona public schools, well so much the better since Barrett also serves on the board of K-12 Inc., the nation’s #1 supplier of cyber-courses. Whether the former CEO of Intel knows everything there is to know about selling microprocessors AND education, or whether this is merely another manifestation of the Shoe Button Complex remains to be seen.
“The Shoo facts Complex”
Shoo facts, don’t bother me
Shoo facts, don’t bother me
Shoo facts, don’t bother me
Cuz I belong to Bill Gates, see?
This reminds me of the blueberry story (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/07/09/why-schools-arent-businesses-the-blueberry-story/) of the ice cream magnate who was sure his business acumen qualified him to run public schools..until he admitted that he sent back boxes of inferior blueberries rather than using them in his ice cream, a luxury we public educators do not enjoy.
John Grant, author of the recently published “Debunk It: How to Stay Sane in a World of Misinformation,” takes on this fallacy that makes people believe that if someone is at the top of his or her field, their expertise transfers to other subject areas. The top US nuerosurgeon is not the guy you would call for advice on your sewer pipe leak…
Karen Sterling”
Thanks for relating this post to “The Blueberry Story: The teacher gives the businessman a lesson”
Jamie Vollmer’s epiphany is relevant here as well.
“In retrospect, the speech was perfectly balanced — equal parts ignorance and arrogance.”
http://www.jamievollmer.com/blueberries.html
“Barrett is actually and unknowingly talking about is crony capitalism.” He knows EXACTLY what he is talking about. Bill Gates may suffer from delusional philanthropy, but Barrett and the other millionaire/billionaire charter pushers have done the math and they want extra-large pieces of the education pie$.
Again, we need legislators to begin writing bills which prohibit unauthorized and inexperienced professionals from meddling in education policy. Do it before it is too late.
This would be wonderful if our government actually worked for people instead of corporate interests and billionaires. They have the means to buy all the influence they want. This is why public education is under seige.
col·lu·sion
secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy,
especially in order to cheat or deceive others.
Love the shoe button analogy.
Have been reading “The Fires” by Joe Hood. It has reminded me that there’s more to why these rich businessmen believe they don’t need to know anything.
Business school training inherently and essentially trains businessmen to believe they can manage any kind of business just by looking at the numbers and without every knowing anything detailed, instinctive, or specific about that business.
Of course, this is why MBA’s are the subject of ridicule in so many companies – because they screw up businesses right and left if there isn’t someone in charge who fundamentally understands that specific business.
It must come as a real surprise when they find out that the arms length management which made them their billions doesn’t work in government or education.
As a reminder, GWB was our nation’s first MBA president!
I think that about says it all. 🙂
My experience with successful businessmen and women is very often they aren’t aware of the accidents that led to their success. Instead, too often they build a mythology about themselves – a mythology that’s often wrong.
Some grow in their ability to develop into new things. More make their money by finding a formula and applying it everywhere – even in education.
Do you wonder if the Gates’ Foundation hires experienced and knowledgeable educators as advisors or do they just wing it?
“Vicki Phillips, director of Education, College Ready in the United States Program, oversees work to improve early learning in Washington state; to ensure U.S. high school students graduate ready for success in college, career, and life; and to improve access to college.
“Phillips has committed her career to increasing educational opportunities for young people. Prior to joining the foundation, she was superintendent of Portland Public Schools in Portland, Ore. Before her move to Oregon, Phillips was secretary of education and chief state school officer for the state of Pennsylvania and served as superintendent of the Lancaster, Pa., school district. She has worked with the U.S. Office of Education in Washington, D.C., and has been a middle and high school teacher.
“Phillips earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in school psychology from Western Kentucky University. She also holds a doctorate in education from the University of Lincoln in England.”
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/who-we-are/general-information/leadership/united-states-program/vicki-phillips
Bill,
No one questions the qualifications of those who work for Gates. Many question their decisions, policies, and obliviousness to harm they do.
Could that not be said of anyone including Professor Glass? There must be some, even if just a little, causal relationship between qualifications and decisions, policies and awareness of effect.
I don’t see anywhere in this bio that she’s ever set foot in a public school classroom as a teacher, even as a TfA temp, which would be bad enough. Trust me, being a superintendent in no way, shape or form makes one qualified as an “educator” to be telling real educators how to do their jobs. Here in Chicago we call them “CEOs” rather than “superintendents”, but we’ve had a whole string of them that couldn’t teach for five minutes, even with an army of aides keeping order for them.
Don’t know the length, but the bio did include, “and has been a middle and high school teacher.” And I wonder how many other delusional educators are on staff.
I have a funny feeling that Vicki Phillips is not the one making the major education policy decisions at Gates Foundation.– ie, the ones that determine what the money gets spent on.
Bill Gates is a known control freak when it comes to that kind of thing.
Just read and listen to what Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen has to say about that — or pretty much anyone else who has worked with/for him in the past. Current employees won’t say anything negative, of course.
I take your point that many of us on this forum tend to be dismissive of ed-reformers’ credentials. As you note, Gates’ main ed consult appears to have experience as an educator [how much is undefined; judging her age from her photo I’d suggest not much].
The reason I personally am dismissive– & I suspect this is shared by others– is that– though Gates’ & other ed-reform foundations can be shown to have had an inordinate effect on governmental policy over the last dozen yrs– there is little-to-no correlation made between dollars spent by such foundations, & the resuls of the policies their folks have funded– without, BTW, buy-in from voters, tho that is a separate problem to do with the power of executive agencies like the DOE.
We sit in classrooms today, thanks in great part to the influence of Gates Foundation & their ilk, hamstrung by an onslaught of standards and aligned testing to which none of us teachers nor our students’ families as taxpayers were party, curriculum narrowed & professional choices winnowed. Yet the agenda bulldozes on, without reference to the fact that results of these policies have netted us exactly NADA in improved national education.
This is the point where we might want to call on the econometricians– the data-crunchers who sit in the catbird seat for educational policies– to tell us whether we’re on the right road. Well, the data’s in, & it does not support the policy pushed by such experts as the educational consultants at the Gates Foundation
“This is the point where we might want to call on the econometricians”
Your point about the data being in and not supporting the policies is right on target but the spectacular failure of the “reformer” policies is glaringly obvious: no statisticians required to come to that conclusion. And if one did wish to call someone, there are much more qualified people to call (real statisticians at American Statistical Association, for example).
Calling in econometricians is like calling bears when you are at a picnic. If they are not around already, you definitely don’t want to attract them. 🙂
In my opinion, the main issue with Gates is not that he knows nothing about education — which he doesn’t (and as I indicated above, he is undoubtedly the one directing policy at GF.)
It is that he unilaterally decided what “reforms” to pursue and then (with Arne Duncan) just rammed the policies through with no debate by teachers, Congress, state legislatures or anyone else because he he had hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars to make it happen.
“Foilanthropy”
The billionaire’s foilanthropy
Subverts and foils democracy
It circumvents the people’s voice
Replacing it with wealthy choice
We need a safe platform or survey of teachers where they can express their views on the inappropriate developmental nature of the standards. Reformers know teachers hands are tied and the public will not be convinced until they know the majority of teachers oppose the standards. Parents have power but teachers have more power in winning the argument. Carol Burris is a powerful asset to the argument that the standards developmentally inappropriate. I look forward to watching her ascent. If more retired teachers would stand together on this the movement would surge.
roxanne, heads up on the Common Core
Mercedes Scneider’s new book looks at the issue.
Common Core Dilemma: Who Owns Our Schools?, due for publication June 12, 2015.
Will do thank you.
“Status quo supporters” is what the so-called reformers call teachers in public, except of course when they are giving them patronizing compliments for their “service,” but in their private thinking and conversations among themselves, these people are convinced that teachers are losers and chumps for committing to a career that focuses on the incremental, holistic development of young people.
They are incapable of truly understanding why someone would do this work, the patience involved, and why anyone would do it unless it would help accumulate capital or power.
Thus, the cluelessness, if not outright viciousness, of their intrusions.
Well said. They are snobs I agree who patronize the teaching community. Fight back teachers fight back! Reveal their shallowness and phony rhetoric.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
Maybe Bill can’t be reasoned with but how about Melinda? She is a mother after all. Any mother or stay a home father knows from observing children in the toddler years that children develop differently and to rush things is both detrimental and inhibiting.
Many of the billionaires in Forbes 2015 list claim to be self-made and to come from a low to moderate income family. Those are self-reports with no backup data worthy of mention by Forbes.
According to the Forbes 2015 list of the wealthiest people in the world, The United States has 536 billionaires worth $2.6 trillion.
In 2014 Warren Buffet made $14.5 billion.
Among the wealthiest in the US, 23 % of the billionaires claim to have been raised in a household that was “poor,” 17% in a “working class” family. Here are some of the top billionaires and major source of wealth.
Bill Gates, Microsoft, $ 79.2 billion…
Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway, $72.7 billion…
Larry Ellis, Oracle, 54.3 billion…
Charles Koch, Diversified, $42.9 billion…G. Davis Koch, Diversified, $42.9 billion… Christy Walton, Walmart $41.7 billion…Jim Walton, Walmart $40.6 billion…Alice Walton, Walmart $39.4 billion… S. Robert Walton, Walmart $39.1 billion…
Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg, $35.5 billion…Jeff Bezos, Amazon, $34.8 billion…Mark Zuckenberg, Facebook, $33.4 million….Sheldon Adelson, Casinos, $31.4 billion…Larry Page, Google, $29.7 billion…Sergey Brin, Google, $29.2 billion…
Forrest Mars, Jr., Candy, $26.6 billion….Jacquelin Mars Candy, $26.6 billion….John Mars, Candy, $26.6 billion….
George Soros, Hedge funds, $24.2 billion…Carl Icahn, Investments, $23.5 billion…Steve Ballmer, Microsoft, $21.5 billion… Phil Knight, Nike, $21.5 billion… Len Blavatnik, Diversified, $20.2 billion…Charles Ergen, Dish Network, $20.1 billion…Lauren Powell Jobs, Apple & Disney, $19.5 billion…Michael Dell, Dell, $19.2 billion…
So far as I know, only a few analytical studies have been done on the interconnections among grants flowing into K-12 education and the major foundations, many set up by billionaires. Here are some recent findings.
In 2010, the top 15 grant makers for K-12 education (based on IRS filings) were: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Robertson Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Broad Foundation, GE Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, Doris and Donald Fisher Fund, Communities Foundation of Texas, and Ford Foundation.
In 2010, the top “convergent grantees”–beneficiaries of multiple funders were:
Charter School Growth Fund $46 million, 6 funders;
Teach for America, $44.5 million, 13 funders;
KIPP, $24 million, 9 funders;
D.C. Public Education Fund, $22 million, 5 funders (set up for merit pay) ;
New Schools Venture Fund, $18 million, 10 funders.
The researchers noted a dramatic increase in convergent grant making between the first year they studied, 2000, and the last, 2010. The increase was not only in dollars but also in the proportion groups that received funds from two or more foundations. As one example, funding for traditional public schools dropped from 16% of grant dollars in 2000 to 8% in 2010 while charter school funding rose from about 3% in 2000 to 16% in 2010.
Source: Reckhow, S & Snyder, J. W. (2014, May). The expanding role of philanthropy in education politics. Education researcher, 43, 4, pp.186-195. Or see Sarah Reckhow, (2013). Follow the money, How foundations dollars change public school politics. NNY: Harvard Education Press.
Plenty of money is around, and it is increasingly used to create a tripartate system of education.
One is truly public, tax-supported with governance by democratically elected school boards.
One is one public in name only, tax subsidized, but with governance that is not fully public or democratically determined.
The third is private education, including for-profit-by-design education.
I think this is the worst Ohio charter school scandal yet, simply because of the size of it.
Incredibly, no state agency has jurisdiction or regulatory control over this, because “it’s a private company” The state is just throwing their hands up and saying “we refuse to regulate this entity that consumes 57 million in public funds- not our job!”
“Summit is a tax-exempt private company with nearly all of its more than $57 million in annual revenues flowing from contracts with taxpayer-funded charter schools it manages, and some through therapeutic services provided to children in government subsidized residential treatment and foster care facilities.
In Ohio’s publicly funded $1 billion charter-school industry, no private school-management company operates more schools than Summit.”
The tax exempt status to me is just one more indication they feel they have absolutely no duty to the people of this state. It’s bad enough they’re funneling 57 million dollars thru a private company that is riddled with nepotism and conflicts of interest and completely opaque and accountable to no one, they also insist on not paying taxes.
http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/nine-ousted-or-investigated-in-ohio-s-largest-charter-school-network-1.598305#.VXWkAIl53bs.twitter
Do charter school parents in Ohio know the charter school and the charter school board are not actually running the schools?
“In January 2014, board documents show that each charter school’s board approved a boiler-plate policy update to give Summit the right to determine who is fired without first seeking each board’s consent.
A former employee was told her position was eliminated, then learned Horak’s son took over her job a month later.
Management groups aren’t required to disclose to sponsors the names of people hired into the private company, nor do they have to reveal to the state how tax dollars are spent.”
Who is public enemy#1?
Paraphrasing the essay:
Bill Gates has referred to Diane Ravitch as “public enemy #1” of effective education.
Oops, the paraphrase :
Bill Gates has referred to Diane Ravitch as “public enemy #1” of effective education.
That’s quite a badge of honor.
Bill Gates obviously has no sense of irony.
I wish I could find the edit putt on here:
Knowing everything there was to know about shoe buttons, he became a very rich man. Great success persuaded him that he was an expert on… everything. -Bill Gates is a man who thinks that his fabulous wealth entitles him to seek to re-engineer schools. He doesn’t much care for people who work in schools, nor people who work as researchers in the field of education, nor renowned scholars of education, for he once cornered the market on shoe buttons… er, computers:
Bill Gates has referred to Diane Ravitch as “public enemy #1” of effective education.”
Richard Holsworth, that quote by Bill Gates appeared in Newsweek, in an article written by Jonathan Alter after interviewing Gates.
Dr. D.R.,
Appreciated your responses to the accusations (Dollar) Bill Gate$ made in Alter’s Newsweek article as reported in Valerie Strauss’ “The Answer Sheet” in The Washington Post (11/30/2010).
“It’s the world’s richest (or second richest) man vs. an education historian and New York University research professor.
Gates, through his philanthropic foundation, has invested billions of dollars in education experiments and now has a pivotal role in reform efforts. Ravitch, the author of the bestselling The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has become the most vocal opponent of the Obama administration’s education policy. She says Gates is backing the wrong initiatives and harming public schools.
In the Newsweek piece, Gates poses some questions aimed at Ravitch. I asked her to answer them. Below are the questions Gates asked, in bold, and the answers, in italics, that Ravitch provided in an email.”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/diane-ravitch/ravitch-answers-gates.html
I neglected to mention that when I went to the Newsweek article, an ad popped up:
Sponsored by Microsoft
MICROSOFT CLOUD
Empowering Business