Peter Greene knows, unlike Bill Gates, that children are not like toasters that Ned to be plugged into an electrical outlet that is everywhere the same. But then Gates brings in the metaphor of a railroad gauge. Ah! A fresh metaphor! New writer? Who knows?
Greene explains why it is a bad metaphor that has nothing to do with students or teaching. And he asks the $64 question: if standardization and uniformity are so great, why does Gates love charter schools?
And now the big question: what metaphor will Gates use next to make the case for standardization of learning?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Maybe the goal is to standardized poverty so there is no middle class.
Electric plugs are so 1900’s. Education is more like opening a DigiKey electronics catalog. Millions of different components, some slightly different, some very unique. Some need very little to light up, others require more current but can be valued components of a circuit. C’mon Bill, get with at least the 2000’s. Next goofy analogy, anyone?
“Te-He” The romance of the area of the one room class room is over!
Does Peter Greene think that charter schools are the opposite of standardization of education? I think that is probably right, or rather that allowing students to choose the school that allows schools to be idiosyncratic.
TE, all schools are idiosyncratic. We all have things we specialize in. That’s just human nature, and every group has a different composition of talents, attitudes, etc. Choice really doesn’t have a lot to do with that. What’s killing schools is the insistence on turning out every student as an identical widget. Many charter schools get out of at least some of that standardized testing, so they get to advertise how there’s less testing, which is EXACTLY what the reformers wanted in the first place. We’ve just had about 12 hours of standardized testing added to our public school district per year starting in grade 7 in social studies and world languages. Next year, fine arts, health and physical education will also be tested, for an additional several hours. Because this is district-level, charter schools don’t have to do that. That will become a selling-point, and I don’t blame parents for looking at charters for that reason. BUT, if all of this testing wasn’t mandated, charters wouldn’t be there to steal money from real public schools in the first place.
In my state, several legislators or family members of legislators work for charter management companies that have a strangle hold on charters in my area. That’s why charters have become such a thing here. Ka-ching!
Threatened,
I have no doubt that traditional zoned schools do differ on the margins, but there is much less variation than occurs if you allow students more options. There is a reason that some posters here have called Montessori, Waldorf, and progressive schools “private school models” and contrasted them to a public school approach to education.
As others have said below, very few charter schools are like this, though. In my state, we have a hundred or so charter schools. Exactly one is Montessori. Two specialize in Autism. Most of the rest are incredibly similar to public schools. The difference? Practically no ELL kids, very little special education, and tiny numbers of minorities. Parents often choose charter schools not because of some wonderful educational philosophy, but because there are fewer of “those kids.” In some cases, it’s an ego thing.
Threatened,
In a quick search I found 3 Montessori schools in Utah: Gateway Preparatory Academy, Maria Montessori Academy and Walden School of Liberal Arts. Here is a list of public Montessori schools by state, some are magnet, some are charter: http://www.public-montessori.org/schools-map/by-state
“What’s killing schools is the insistence on turning out every student as an identical widget. ”
Kidgets!
Kidgets.
That’s great!
If’n you don’t mind my stealing that
“Kidgets”
Your kids are simply kidgets
They must be standardized
Like factory widgets
They must be standard sized
They must wear common colors
Of uniformly white
And must be Common Corelers
On every Christmas night
What’s “idiosyncratic” about cookie-cutter “no excuses” drill-and-kill schools that all share the same “best practices”?
Dienne,
You will have to ask Peter Greene why he thinks supporting charter schools is inconsistent with supporting uniformity and standardization. For me it is fairly clear when you look at the variety of charter schools out there. Some are even progressive schools like the private progressive school your children attend.
Could you let me know what weed you’re smoking, TE? I’d like some, please.
You have Greene’s argument exactly backwards – charters are all about uniformity and consistency. Oh, sure, maybe there are a handful of your precious Walton Rural Life-type places, but the ones that are replicating faster than cancer cells are the cookie-cutter “no excuses” drill-and-kill ones that are all based on the same punitive, behaviorist, test prep model. If you value your Walton school, I’d suggest you join the fight against such charter behemoths because they’re planning to eat your lunch. Actually, they plan to eat you for lunch.
Dienne,
You think Peter Greene’s question makes no sense? That it is perfectly consistent to believe in uniformity and standardization along with advocating charter schools?
Walton is, of course, a charter school. As are the great books charter schools, the language immersion charter schools, the Waldorf charter schools, the Montessori charter schools, the progressive charter schools, fine arts charter schools, etc. Do you see a lot of uniformity in that list?
What percentage of students who are enrolled in charter schools attend an independent, progressive school and what percent of students enrolled in charter schools attend a chain such as KIPP, Gulen, SA, etc?
Concerned,
Perhaps these figures will help.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 2.1 million students were enrolled in charter schools in 2011-12 and about 47.2 million in what the NCES calls traditional public schools. There were 5,696 charter schools in the country, though the Wikipedia article claims an estimate that there are currently over 6,400 charters estimated to be operating in the US.
If we take the 5,696 and 2.1 million students as a very conservative estimate of the current number of schools and students, we can do a little math. According to the KIPP website, there are 162 KIPP schools serving 58,000 students. So KIPP schools make up about 2.8% of all charter schools and educate about 2.7% of all charter students. Those numbers are probably high.
An article from August of this year in the Atlantic states there are 120 Gulen charter schools in the country. That puts Gulen charter schools as no more than 2.1% of all charter schools. Unfortunately the article does not give a figure for enrollment, but we are perhaps safe is assuming that Gulen charters enroll no more than KIPP schools enroll, so something less than 2.7%.
Success Academy, of course, only operates in New York City, so the numbers of schools is much smaller. From their website it appears to be 20 schools, 6 each in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan, with two in Queens. I have had a hard time finding the total enrollment figures, but if we put an outside estimate of 1,000 students per school we come up with about 20,000 students. Success Academy makes up at most about .35% of all charter schools and certainly no more than .9% of all students enrolled in charter schools.
I hope these figures help you put things into perspective. The three chains you mention specifically certainly comprise less than 6% of all charter schools and less than 6% of all charter students. Another chain you might have seen mentioned here is Rocket Ship. They have 11 schools, or no more than .2% of the total number of charter schools.
TE,
Thank you for your reply – the charter chains= make up much less than I thought. The other part of my question is, how many charters are independent and progressive? We have 11 independent charter schools in my city, but I would only consider one progressive.
Concerned,
Your second question is much more difficult to answer. Even if someone has visited all the schools individually and added up the number of truly progressive schools, how can you be sure that you would have the same criteria about what constituted a progressive school?
If you search over “public Montrssori school” or “public Waldorf school” or “public progressive school” you will run across organizations of schools made up of both magnet and charter schools. That would be a place to start if you want to get a sense of how many there are out there.
From Alan Jones:
Gates’ ideas about treating education as a production/manufacturing industry instead of the coping organization that it is, couldn’t be more wrong-headed.
The goal of a production industry is to reduce variation in processes in order to manufacture a product that customers are certain will perform according to expectations/specifications.
In a coping organization you are confronted with uncertain inputs, uncertain processes, and uncertain outcomes. Added to the inability to control inputs, processes, and outcomes, what parents are looking for in schools are instructional programs that increase variation in outcomes—further develop the unique abilities, talents, and interests of their children.
For this reason, as Deming attempted to point out, but which our school leadership and political class still don’t understand, is that managing a production industry and managing a school require entirely different set of intellectual and organizational tools. Not understanding the fundamental differences between manufacturing and educating is the reason that all the intellectual and organizational tools—merit pay, data driven decision making, national standards, standardized testing, curriculum alignment—that the Duncan’s, Rhee’s, are implementing will fail, and in fact will result in the dysfunctional outcomes Deming describes in his books—cheating, drop outs, early exiting of teachers, etc.
Oh, they understand. That’s why their children are in high-level private schools that don’t standardized test. It’s just that they don’t care.
Gates really steps into it in this interview. He really thinks everyone should be taught in the same manner. No differentiation for learning styles or multiple approaches to problems.
He reveals more about his attitudes regarding charters and unions as well. Anyone still think Gates is just a misguided philanthropist who means well? His answers are frighteningly aligned with rightist philosophy.
I find it frightening that he is dedicated to this level of uniformity or conformity.
It’s frightening but it’s also funny, the interview, because he contradicts just about everything we’ve been told in what is a really smooth and professional ed reform marketing campaign.
He wants a national curriculum, he wants standardization (down to how multiplication is taught) he identifies labor unions and public schools as the problem and he promotes teacher evaluations, technology and charter schools as the solution.
They have spent tens of millions of dollars denying this is what they’re about. HE has spent tens of millions of dollars denying it, through the ed reform orgs he supports.
Exactly, Chiara. This should put an end to the idea that “his heart is in the right place.”
“His heart is in the right place”
His heart is in the right place
Though may not seem to care
He has a little wallet space
And heart is carried there
SomeDAM Poet:
Nice echoes of Emily Dickinson. My apologies to her . . .
I never finished school,
I never taught a class.
Yet know I how to standardize
By doling out my cash.
I rarely talk with kids,
Or listen to their teachers.
But surely they don’t see me as
A meddling over-reacher?
“He really thinks everyone should be taught in the same manner.”
Well, except his kids, of course. They’re special. Unlike your kids.
Every word that so many high-up
corporate reformers utter is hollow…
because those same people are
spending tens of thousands of dollars
of Gates-originated money to make sure
their own kids are, figuratively speaking,
kept as far away from the Common Core
they’re pushing Gates’ money will
allow them.
Here’s an old post I directed at
Lawrence Steinberg at an old
thread here:
https://dianeravitch.net/2014/02/14/the-laffaire-steinberg-ogozolak-continues/
What if a U.S. Surgeon General
told the nation’s parents that a
great new vaccine has just been
invented, and it’s going to
revolutionize the health of
children and their ability
to fight off disease … blah-
blah-blah…. all the while
the Surgeon General is
being handsomely
compensated for pushing
this vaccine.
And then someone asks,
“Mr. Surgeon General… why
don’t you give that new vaccine
to YOUR OWN children? If the
vaccine is so great, why do
you spend tons of your own
money so that your kids get
an entirely different, and—
by all measures—a superior
vaccine?”
“My children’s vaccination is
none of your business, and
not fair ground for discussion.”
And to add insult to injury,
the hypothetical Surgeon
General intones, “Your kids
are all going to be forced
to take this vaccine whether
you like or not.” With the
power of the state behind
him, he says that, figuratively
speaking, he and the state
will shove it down your kids’
throats, or strap them to
a chair and forcibly inject
into their biceps whether
or not their parents desire
such a vaccine.
“This is what we’re doing,
and there’s nothing you can
do to stop us… so just shut
up and accept it.”
You can see how parents
might be a little vexed by
such a prospect.
Of course, you know I’m
talking about New York State
Ed. Commissioner John King
and his forcing Common
Core on other people’s
children, while keeping his own
children… figuratively
speaking… as far away from
Common Core as his Gates-
originated salary can afford.
Seriously… if Common Core
is the greatest thing ever
for a kid’s education, why
does King spend tens of
thousands of dollars on
expensive private school
tuition to make sure his own
children are kept away from it?
Check out the crucial final 20 min.
of last October’s town hall in
Poughkeepsie, New York,
where NY State Ed.
Commissioner John King
faced the public over his
backing of Common Core.
Here is the colorfully titled
YouTube video —
“Commissioner King Gets Spanked”:
(NOTE: this has been watched 56,476 times!!!)
This meeting was a Rhee-like
farce where King spoke for 2
hours straight, and was scheduled
to to be followed by 1 hour of
public comments and questions.
Note that… ***was scheduled to
be followed…***
The best laid plans…
Indeed, 20 minutes in, neither
King nor the NY State PTA
moderator “could stand the
heat, so they got outta the kitchen.”
They were totally unprepared by
how well-informed and
confrontational these parents were.
At about the 10 minute mark, one
parent brought up the fact that King
sends his own kids to a Montessori
School, which has a curriculum that
is the antithesis of Common Core
as a Montessori school is…
(to quote its wikipedia entry)
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
“… characterized by an emphasis on
independence, freedom within limits,
and respect for a child’s natural
psychological, physical, and social
development….
“… and has these elements
as essential:[1][2]
” — Mixed age classrooms, with
classrooms for children aged
2½ or 3 to 6 years old by far the
most common
“— Student choice of activity
from within a prescribed range of
options
“— Uninterrupted blocks of work
time, ideally three hours
“— A Constructivist or ‘discovery’
model, where students learn
concepts from working with
materials, rather than by direct
instruction.
“Specialized educational materials
developed by Montessori and her
collaborators
“— Freedom of movement within
the classroom
” — A trained Montessori teacher
“In addition, many Montessori
schools design their programs
with reference to Montessori’s
model of human development
from her published works, and
use pedagogy, lessons, and
materials introduced in teacher
training derived from courses
presented by Montessori
during her lifetime… ”
– – – – – – – – – – – –
This disclosure of his hypocrisy
and implied attack on King pretty
much ended things.
King made the dubious claim that
his Montessori school scrupulously
follows “Common Core”
This totally enraged the audience
of parents as it was and is a
ludicrous and demonstrably false
claim that was rightly met with
skepticism and loud booing,
enraging the crowd… if for
no other reason that folks
don’t like to be lied to or have
their intelligences insulted.
Seriously… if Common Core
is the greatest thing ever
for a kid’s education, why
does King spend tens of
thousands of dollars of
expensive private school
tuition to make sure his own
children are, figuratively
speaking, kept as far away from
it as as Gates-funded salary
can afford.
It’s like if a Surgeon General
told the nation’s parents that a
great new vaccine has just been
invented, and it’s going to
revolutionize the health of
children and their ability
to fight off disease … blah-
blah-blah…. all the while
the Surgeon General is
being handsomely
compensated for pushing
this vaccine.
And then someone asks,
“Mr. Surgeon General… why
don’t you give that new vaccine
to YOUR OWN children? If the
vaccine is so great, why do
you spend tons of your own
money so that your kids get
an entirely different, and—
by all measures—a superior
vaccine?”
“My children’s vaccination is
none of your business, and
not fair ground for discussion.”
Anyway, back to the town
hall video…
The flustered moderator then
quickly wrapped it up, “We’re going
to allow two more people to speak.”
At which point people began
screaming even louder:
“WHAT HAPPENED TO ‘ONE
HOUR’ ?!!!”
This is absolutely riveting video.
Again, you can see that crucial
final 20 minutes at:
One other point:
I just noticed something while
watching this video. King
sends his kid to a “private
school”… but he doesn’t
use the phrase….
Instead, he calls his kids’
school a “non-public school”…
(at 15:52)
KING: “Non-public schools
are part of the community
of schools in our state… ”
It’s part of some Neuro-
Linguistic Programming
technique to subliminally
get the people in the
audience to not associate
King with elitists who avoid
the public schools and
instead send their kids to…
yes… PRIVATE schools…
No, he’s just like all you
“public” school parents.
I think it’s called “negation”
where what follows the
negation… in this case..
the negation is the weasel
prefix “non”, and what follows
it is “public”… with the “public
being what actually is actually
processed by the mind..
By calling it “non-public”
the word “public” is in the
phrase, and that’s what
gets processed… with
people then NOT associating
King with “private” schools…
i.e. avoid using the word
“private” at any cost.
You can’t make this stuff up
“Solution Execution”
Good ideas live and die
Based on execution
And ed reform is just the guy
To execute solution
Gates’s thinking isn’t that the Common Core is something that every single child absolutely must have without exception, as in the vaccine example. The thinking is that the public schools are terrible and that the Common Core will make them better than they were before — not that the Common Core will make the public schools as good as Lakeside Academy. Put differently, if Bill Gates brought a bunch of $10 sandwiches down to a homeless shelter and handed them out, and then went out to a restaurant for a $1,000 dinner, that doesn’t *necessarily* mean the $10 sandwiches are inedible. I grant that there is a huge, and perhaps in some ways dangerous, amount of hubris involved in Gates’s education philanthropy. But the “it’s ok for thee but not for me” argument isn’t that compelling.
You gotta love the part where King claims that the Montessori approach is basically Common Core
I think that probably made Maria Montessori laugh and cry at the same time
“King of the Load”
It’s just like Montessori
The Common Core approach
You really shoudn’t worry
It’s way beyond reproach
If I were at a homeless shelter and Bill Gates brought a bunch sandwiches down and handed them out, I’d check for bugs before I ate one, cuz everything he touches is riddled with them.
This reminds me of Bernie Goetz’s mayoral bid in 2001. His main policy proposal was the free availability of mediocre sandwiches.
http://nypress.com/bernhard-goetz-for-mayor-subway-shooter-as-candidate/
“Nutty as it gets”
Philosophy of Bernie Goetz
About as nutty as it gets
From saving squirrels to gunning
It really is quite stunning
The news recently offered two reasons why some kind of national standards are important: the recent curriculum review underway in Jefferson County CO and Texas. If State or local school boards get to decide what constitutes history and avoid the use of AP tests because they inaccurately depict history we’re in trouble. If State or local boards get to decide what gets taught in science based on scripture we’re also in trouble. Some content can’t be decided on a state-by-state or district-by-district basis and must be understood by all students. The founding fathers wanted church and state separated and God did not design the universe in seven days. In an ideal democracy (which we are clearly falling short of as a nation) a team of national academic leaders would formulate a set of basic content standards that would be used as a framework to define state standards that would, in turn be deliberated upon and adopted at the State board level by boards elected by the public. I believe Bill Gates is as frustrated as we are by the fact that this kind of deliberative process cannot happen because education has been politicized. He, though, has the money to play by the new rules that govern politics. While I am not happy at the notion of a squillionaire underwriting the content standards needed in this country, I AM happy for at least two items the common core does NOT include: e.g. units on patriotism and intelligent design.
“If State or local school boards get to decide what constitutes history and avoid the use of AP tests because they inaccurately depict history we’re in trouble.”
On the other hand:
“Perhaps if Americans were taught their true history in place of idealistic fairy tales, they would be less gullible and less susceptible to government propaganda. I have recommended Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick’s The Untold History of the US, Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the US, and now I recommend Stephen Kinzer’s The Brothers, the story of the long rule of John Foster and Allen Dulles over the State Department and CIA and their demonization of reformist governments that they often succeeded in overthrowing. Kinzer’s history of the Dulles brothers’ plots to overthrow six governments provides insight into how Washington operates today.”
Paul Craig Roberts “Washington’s Secret Agendas”
William Blum’s “Killing Hope”
The best way to identify must read history texts might be to get a crowd sourced common core from Diane Ravitch’s readers 😉
“Put differently, if Bill Gates brought a bunch of $10 sandwiches down to a homeless shelter and handed them out, and then went out to a restaurant for a $1,000 dinner, that doesn’t *necessarily* mean the $10 sandwiches are inedible.”
FLERP!, you are right. It does not mean it is not edible. The difference is that the homeless guy can say, “No, thank you” and it wouldn’t be against the law. He can go to another homeless shelter. He can just refuse to eat. No one is shoving that sandwich down his throat. He would in no way get in trouble with authorities for refusing that sandwich.
However, public schools are afraid of saying, “No, thank you.” There are consequences that districts, schools, teachers are afraid to face. Not many states are following Washington state’s footsteps or even the footsteps of the kindergarten teacher in Florida. It is being forced upon us and that is difference and that is why it is a compelling argument for me.
So much talk about choice and there is none.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to post here. I meant to post this comment on its own.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I have to disagree with this. Federal power to mandate standards can be [& presently is being] grossly corrupted. The answer to the bald attempt to re-write history by the secretively-elected [Koch-funded] majority on the Jeff Cty Board is exactly what’s happening: it’s being argued out in the local public arena.
I am not suggesting the federal government set standards… but I do think that SOME national standards are necessary… they could be developed by non-profit professional organizations like ASCD or the organizations that provide public school accreditation or content groups like NCTM… I fear that if we have every school district in the US engaged in Jeff Cty “debates” it will not help public education…
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I’m not so sure… “Some content can’t be decided on a state-by-state or district-by-district basis and must be understood by all students. The founding fathers wanted church and state separated and God did not design the universe in seven days”…
I think content is a real bucket of worms. Civil rights law speaks to broad public access to a quality education. Separation of church and state is on the books. Both issues are being fought tooth and nail in many locales. [I swear, tho I can’t pinpoint it, some southeastern state recently proposed deleting their state’s guarantee to the ‘quality’ part of ‘quality public ed’ tho I don’t think it went anywhere.]
These are cultural battles which have to be fought out in the regions experiencing the culture clash. As a nation we have already bitten off a huge task just in mandating universal access & church-state separation.
The first runs directly counter to the way in which the nation funds public education– & rattles the cage of a nation built on 250 yrs of legal slavery. The second picks a fight with the evangelicals– they are underestimated as a minority; the nation was founded on freedom to practice religion, & some will insist on stretching that concept to an extreme. And both square off with that strain of stubborn anti-gov individualism that runs deep & long here. We have a long enough row to hoe just enforcing those 2 basic mandates. The curriculum issues that concern you fall under their aegis.
“If State or local boards get to decide what gets taught in science based on scripture we’re also in trouble. ”
Yeah, but what can you do. Federalism Happens.
“Education Railroading”
To some, ed is a railroad gauge
Reform, it is a railroad
The engineer is Billy Gates
And ed reform a fail-load
“Education Railroading” (take 2)
The students are a railroad gauge
Reform, it is a railroad
The engineer is Billy Gates
And ed reform a fail-load
“And Common Core the fail load”
There
Sorry, haven’t had my coffee yet and non-editable blogs are not conducive to writing poetry.
Here’s a devastating article that points up Bill Gates’ hypocrisy when it comes to the variation between what he demands for his own children, and what he subjects children from lower income communities:
http://seattletimes.com/html/dannywestneat/2014437975_danny09.html
THE SEATTLE TIMES’ Danny Weastneat takes Gates to task for promoting policy all over the country that jacks class size sky high, with Gates using the common-sense-defying logic that kids will fare better in larger classes.
Well, Weastneat sends his own kids to public schools, and will eventually attend Garfield High School (in the news of late). These are the schools that—once Gates has his way—will have obscenely large class sizes… A bit fed up, Weastneat did what perhaps no other writer has yet dared to do:
he investigated the two rich kids’ private school where Gates sends his own children and—doncha know it? —these schools major selling point is that they have… wait for it… EXTREMELY SMALL CLASS SIZES:
WEASTNEAT: “I bet (Gates) senses deep down as a parent that pushing more kids into classes isn’t what’s best for students. His kids’ private-sector grade school has 17 kids in each room. His daughter’s high school has 15. These intimate settings are the selling point, the chief reason tuition is $25,000 a year — more than double what Seattle schools spends per student.”
Calling out Gates’ hypocrisy, Weastneat ends the article with a knockout finish:
WEASTNEAT: “Bill, here’s an experiment. You and I both have an 8-year-old. Let’s take your school and double its class sizes, from 16 to 32. We’ll use the extra money generated by that — a whopping $400,000 more per year per classroom — to halve the class sizes, from 32 to 16, at my public high school, Garfield.
“In 2020, when our kids are graduating, we’ll compare what effect it all had. On student achievement. On teaching quality. On morale. Or that best thing of all, the “environment that promotes relationships between teachers and students.”
“Deal? Probably not. Nobody would take that trade. Which says more than all the studies ever will.”
“The Commoner Core”
I send my kids to private schools
But what’s that got to do
With Commoner Core of lazy fools
Who can’t afford to too?
Conform or be cast out. Color between the lines. Read exactly how we want you to, no joy of reading for you.
Knock knock,
Who’s there?
Control freak,
Control freak who?
Common core.
Steve K
September 30, 2014 at 8:40 am
Exactly, Chiara. This should put an end to the idea that “his heart is in the right place.”
I don’t judge him very harshly. I’m not paying him and I don’t know what his motives are.
My beef is not with Gates or the huge constellation of ed reform groups he funds. My beef is with the people at the federal and state level that we (supposedly!) hired to “improve” public schools. That is their job. They weren’t tasked with replacing public schools with their own vision of a privatized portfolio system. If they wanted to work in the private sector, well, no one was stopping them. They took jobs in the public sector. That comes with a duty to ACTUALLY work for public schools.
The very least they could have done was inform the public that Gate’s vision was also the plan, because I pay pretty close attention and I don’t recall that as the goal when they sold ed reform in Ohio and nationally.
I’m not asking for a lot. “Revealing your actual intentions to the people you work for” is a pretty low bar. If the goal is to privatize public schools and spend tens of millions of dollars on screens and “blended learning” (although none of them have any idea whether it has value for public schools) then RUN on that.
Steve K, this is from 2008:
“First, Duncan is a robust supporter of charter schools. As Mike Petrilli at Fordham’s Flypaper explains:
Get ready for another golden era for charter schools. In many ways, the Bill Clinton years were better for charters than the George Bush years. Largely that’s because the press and the public expects Republicans to support choice and charters; it’s much more powerful when Democrats do so. And by all accounts, Arne Duncan loves charter schools. One person told me that Duncan would make every school a charter school if he could. But at the least, he will be an effective advocate for the view that urban districts can use chartering to promote their larger reform agendas. Which means charters are going mainstream.”
I simply don’t believe that people who don’t value public schools can improve public schools. I think that’s impossible. It’s more than a difference of opinion. Why would you ever put someone in charge of a system when that person seeks to replace it? I think I can predict that “outcome”. Is it any wonder public schools haven’t fared very well under ed reformers in government? They weren’t committed to our schools at the outset. “Agnostics” make lousy advocates, as I think we have seen. Why would I ever hire someone who would just as soon replace my school as support it? That’s nuts.
http://reason.org/news/printer/two-reasons-to-like-chicagos-a
Chiara,
I think it is not an overstatement to say that Arne Duncan is the first Secretary of Education in history who actively dislikes public schools and prefers privatization.
I think the mere fact that we are even talking about Gates speaks volumes about what is wrong with the process.
If educational “reforms” were based on knowledge, expertise and reality someone like Gates would have very little say in the matter.
It’s actually absurd –and very dangerous– that one person has so much influence purely because of how much money he has.
Suppose that decisions at NASA were made in the same way. How would it work out if the guy with the most money in the country got to decide what sort of ‘standards” NASA should adopt (and which laws of physics they should disregard) for rockets carrying astronauts into space?
Though I have my doubts about Gates’ motivations (based on what he himself has said, eg about aligning the standards, curriculum and tests to create “powerful markets), it is actually irrelevant “where Gates’ heart is”. Lots of very ignorant people are very sincere and caring.
Big business equals maximizing profits through large-scale production and standardization. I am finally getting around to reading “Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan and seeing parallels in education to the current agricultural industry… when big business gets involved it standardizes EVERYTHING and brings this standardization to mass scale and this includes human beings not just products and services for sale.
Gate’s view is not surprising. I heard his infamous plug analogy in person at the first T & L Conference in DC – ughh!
Here is a quote from Michael Pollan regarding the rise of big business in corn production in the US… “Exactly what corn is doing in such food systems has less to do with nutrition or taste than with economics.”
The same goes for education of our youth. It has not been about their learning for way too long, but it has been all about economics! Pollan goes on to say, “For the dream of liberating food from nature, which began as a dream of the eaters (to make it less perishable), is now primarily a dream of the feeders – of the corporations that sell us our food. No one was clamoring for synthetic cheese, or a cereal shaped like a bowling pin; processed food has become largely a supply-driven business – the business of figuring out clever ways to package and market the glut of commodities coming off the farm…”
Well school districts were certainly were not “clamoring for high stakes testing and common core” but there was so much profit to be made off of education and the business world figured out that standardizing “learning” through testing and ‘cult like’ following of common core was THE WAY to “supply-driven” huge profits. The “glut of commodities” are coming right off the press at Pearson! So big business teams up with politicians and PR and low and behold a movement of “testing urgency and must-follow standards with college and career-ready rainbows at the end of the tunnel ” is formed (beginning with NCLB or some might say with Reagan’s “Nation-at-Risk” report)! Nowadays politicians are now beholden to the corporations that back them with vast amounts of money via PACS and so our nation’s children are commodified test-takers.
I am only a third of the way through Pollan’s book but am sure I will keep seeing parallels to the agricultural industry and our current education “industry”. Bill Gates is not so dangerous because of his tunnel vision and arrogance but the real reason he is dangerous is because we have become a nation whose policies are for sale to the “highest bidder” and he is that bidder due to his overly deep pockets.