More than any other person, with the possible exception of President Obama and Secretary Duncan, Bill Gates controls American education. He has promoted charter schools (a passion he shares with ALEC, Obama, and every rightwing governor); VAM; high-stakes testing; Common Core; and whatever promotes free-market fundamentalism. His billions are the tiller that guides the ship.
Anthony Cody reproduces an interview in which Gates shows zero knowledge of how his pet reforms have failed. He shows no recognition of charter scandals or the effect of charters on the public schools who lose their top students and funding. He seems unaware that VAM has failed everywhere.
Cody points out that Gates uses the same talking points he used years ago. He lauds mayoral control and cites NYC and Chicago as successful school systems (he dropped DC from his standard line about the glories of top-down decision making).
What comes clear is that he doesn’t care about evidence or lives in a bubble where sycophants protect him from bad news.
It is time for him to stop meddling in school reform. His efforts, though well intentioned, have failed. The backlash will grow as parents react against Gates’ obsession with testing and free market economics.
You can meet Anthony Cody at the following events:
“Note: I will be doing three Educator and Oligarch book talks this week, starting Weds. May 13, at Copperfield’s Books in San Rafael, California, then on to Spokane, Washington on Thursday, May 14, and wrapping up the series in Seattle, Washington on Friday, May 15. All events are free and open to the public.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I would dispute that his efforts are even well-intentioned. If he really cared about making public education better, then wouldn’t he pay some attention to the evidence concerning how his ideas are working out? Since he pays no attention to such evidence, I conclude that his real intentions are different than the stated goal of improving public education.
Agreed. It’s about selling technology in massive quantities. Maybe he thinks he can do both at the same time, possibly, but…
And, honestly, the schools have become a little ridiculous, as well as other things, such as “health care,” because American society and our economic system are reflected there.
I agree with your interpretation. It’s like when they call a bill something like “The Blue Sky Act” that really protects corporations from clean air standards.
He does a great job of separating teachers from their union and stating that the union (of teachers) will resist change but teachers themselves won’t once they see the magic, and also interesting how he sees the SCHOOL BOARD as being resistant to change though we’ve seen board after board throw public schools under the school bus.
Even stranger:
“As those things start working on behalf of the students, then I believe that the majority of teachers and voters will be open-minded to these new approaches. And so we have to take it a step at a time – they have to give us the opportunity for this experimentation – the unions, the voters.”
Let’s see, first he dictates that teachers and voters (two separate beings apparently and the teachers being the smaller of the 2 groups apparently has enough clout that “everyone else” is a voter), HAVE to let him experiment. Then he amends his teachers/voters line to UNIONS and voters.
This is a fascinating dichotomy and I wonder if he was either conflating talking points or else this was a freudian slip. Teachers with no representation don’t bear mentioning here with his amendment despite the proliferation of right to work states and in his mind you need just one big thinker who can shape the system in his own image.
What I find interesting about the concept of mayoral control from someone like Gates, is that you may have different mayors every 4 years.
That means however often the mayor (and apparently now governors) want to shake up the system, and are empowered to do so, the new person can come in, take charge, and shake the entire system up again (which has nothing to do with their politics – it’s all about the children), and meanwhile the teachers and students in the same system for over a decade get that wonderful opportunity of being experimented on by politicians again and again.
Review: Unions and School Boards have all the power, and places that do away with them or otherwise subvert them get better results which should ring hollow to most everyone except those predisposed against them in the first place. Single responsibility is better, even if the new boss every few years smashes the system to remake it in their image.
Maybe there’s something to be said for the ship being slow to turn instead of turning on a dime – move too fast and you have no idea where you’re going. Moving too slow may not achieve the change we want to see “NOW”, but we have a good shot of getting there in the end, not running in educational pendular circles.
“And so we have to take it a step at a time – they have to give us the opportunity for this experimentation – the unions, the voters.”
Who is “we” and why is he talking about “the voters”? No one elected him to anything.
I’d love it if he’d name the people he includes in “we” who are conducting this experiment that “the voters” will eventually like.
For goodness sakes. He’s completely out of control. He seems to think he’s been appointed national education director. Gosh, I wonder where he got that idea?
There’s “we” and then there’s “the unions” and “the voters”.
What no one will admit is this: if Bill Gates didn’t have billions of dollars no one would be listening to him on education. His influence comes from his wealth.
In this post, Diane says that Bill Gates “doesn’t care about evidence.”
Guess what? He’s far from being alone.
Diane says that “The backlash will grow” because parents will revolt even more against testing and free-market nonsense.
I wish she were right. But I’m afraid its much, much worse than many realize.
I’ll offer up a prime example.
Recently, the Virginia Association of State Superintendents (VASS) named the “superintendent of the year” for 2016. While the award comes from VASS, a VASS-selected panel –– comprised of the state superintendent of instruction, and the heads of the Virginia Education Association, state PTA and state school boards association, the head of the state ASCD, and the directors of the state associations of secondary and elementary school principals –– picked the winner. In other words, the top education “leaders” in the state –– those who should be familiar with research and evidence –– were responsible for choosing the states “best” superintendent.
I’ve been saying on this blog for quite some time that public education is in deep trouble because our educational “leaders” are inept. So let’s take a peek at what those in Virginia think is “inspirational leadership.”
A few years back, this recently-named “superintendent of the year” forced a test-score-tracking software program called SchoolNet on teachers. She was advised against it because of it’s problems. But she went ahead anyway. It ended up being a $2 million-plus failure. SchoolNet was later bought by Pearson. The superintendent is still withholding 268 SchoolNet-related emails from public scrutiny, claiming they are “exempt” from the Freedom of Information Act.
Also several years back, the school division sent out what it termed a “leadership” survey. It wasn’t really. It was a skewed-question survey designed to produce pre-determined results. But it did allow for comments. And those comments –– which the superintendent also tried to shield but was forced to give up –– were instructive. They included comments such as “”..this is the worst leadership the county has ever had,” and “Honesty, integrity and fairness are lacking,” and “…teachers have very little voice, and “…the system does not care about me or most other employees as individuals, and “county schools leaders seem to be increasingly inept and far-removed from the day-to-day realities of public education/” Again and again and again, commenters said theese things about the top “leadership:”
* “does not listen to teachers…”
* does not ask what people think before it accepts major policies…”
* “…teachers are not listened to…our opinions have been requested and ignored…”
* “…when I offer my opinion, i has been dismissed.”
* “l..leaders seek input, but then usually, disregard the opinions of those not in agreement with the administration…decisions are made top-down before input is received.”
* “decision making is so top-down — stakeholders are seldom consulted…”
* “…decisions have already been made…”
* “…teachers feel that their professional judgment is not valued…”
* “most administrator are arrogant…and remove themselves with any type of collaborative dialogue with teachers.”
* “…they do not want to hear complaints, or you are labeled as a troublemaker…”
* “the county asks its employees for input but these requests are superficial…the decision have already been made by the people ‘downtown’…”
* “you ask people to think critically but we must toe the party line…”
* “We are not asked what we think…it is common knowledge here that you are not allowed to address concerns that may be negative…”
“I see few examples of teachers being involved in decision making.”
Perviously, a so-called blue ribbon resources utilization committee recommended a climate survey of the schools, noting that one had been done repeatedly in county government. Teachers asked for a climate survey in the schools too, and even offered to help write one. A climate survey still hasn’t been offered up.
This “superintendent of the year” forced STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) “academies” on all of the county high schools. Originally, the claim was that research showed a STEM “crisis” in America, and that this move was “visionary.” Norm Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martine (which has laid of thousands of STEM workers), was invited to the schools to make his STEM spiel. Yet, when asked for the “research,” the superintendent couldn’t produce any. There’s a reason for that. The research shows there is no “crisis,” no “shortage.” In fact, there’s a glut.
For example, Beryl Lieff Benderly wrote this stunning statement recently in the Columbia Journalism Review (see: http://www.cjr.org/reports/what_scientist_shortage.php?page=all ):
“Leading experts on the STEM workforce, have said for years that the US produces ample numbers of excellent science students. In fact, according to the National Science Board’s authoritative publication Science and Engineering Indicators 2008, the country turns out three times as many STEM degrees as the economy can absorb into jobs related to their majors.”
When VASS selected this “superintendent of the year” for 2016, it noted certain “indicators of success.” What were they? It cited an increase in the “number of students enrolled in AP courses” and SAT scores that were higher that the state average. Never mind that the SAT is not tied to the school curriculum. This school division – by the way- is one of the most affluent in the state. And, there is no better predictor of SAT score than family income.
As I’ve pointed out on this blog numerous times the research on SAT (and ACT) and AP courses finds that they are mostly hype. The SAT and ACT just don’t do a good job of predicting success in college or life. Research finds that when demographic characteristics are controlled for, the claims made for AP disappear.
And let’s remember, the College Board and ACT, Inc, were instrumental in developing the Common Core, and both have aligned their products to it.
So, Bill Gates is not alone in eschewing evidence.
He’s got a lot of company.
And public education is the worse for it.
I am afraid that you are on to something. Evidence does not seem to deter the proliferation of charter schools and testing overload. As long as the money keeps flowing and the right palms are being greased, the steam roller of “reform” will stumble along crushing students, families and teachers’ careers in its path. I fear the only things that might be able to stem the tide is if the public gets wind of the waste and corruption and takes a stand, or if parents along with teachers are willing to march on Washington like back in the civil rights era. It is going to take a lot more than evidence to deter these vulture capitalists.
Agreed.
dear retired:
I’ll hope anyone who read my comment overlooks the typos ( I do know the difference between its and it’s….but I wrote it in a hurry).
It isn’t just the “vulture capitalists” and “charters,” as I point out.
It’s public education in general, and those who ostensibly “lead” it.
They’re supposed to know better. Apparently, they do not.
Take the case of the Virginia “superintendent of the year.” I delineate just how bad she really is. A top-down autocrat who poses as “collaborative” and “collegial.” Someone who’s gone all-in on technology and STEM, at a tremendous cost. And she’s given an award based on dubious “evidence.”
From what I can tell, that’s the current state of public education, though it’s been that way for while.
Is Virginia really any different from other states?
Agreed. Lots of people in public education are complicit too. Many of them are robots that are ready to toss teachers and students into the fire.
“From what I can tell, that’s the current state of public education, though it’s been that way for while.
Is Virginia really any different from other states?”
No, democracy, it’s not. There are quite similar groups in the public education world in all states. It’s a “beautiful people” syndrome where only those who “talk the talk” and play the games correctly (of course “civilly”) are those who get to cash in. And they surround themselves with sycophantic brown-nosers as buffers to the very messy reality that is everyday life and living.
Unfortunately, the other groups who should be holding the “beautiful people” accountable, the teacher’s associations and unions, well let’s just say that the “leadership” of those groups have decided to become at one with beautiful people. They’ve thrown their membership under the bus.
Yes. Gates isn’t alone. No doubt he “means well.” He’s trying to help “under-achievers.”
I’m reluctant to paraphrase Marx, but sometimes he said it best: “The ruling ideas are the ideas of the ruling class.” These ideas are what he called “ideology.”
Gates suffers from a widespread kind of illusion, which fits into how at least some people live.
The illusion is that it is always possible to fix something by measuring it.
But it is often unclear what to measure, and whether the things one knows how to measure are important.
Those are often very hard questions.
But in order to implement “measure-and-fix” (in other words, “test-and-punish”), there has to be a pretense that decision-makers really have the data they need.
So nearly any study will do, as long as it looks authoritative, since decision-makers lack a good basis for making decisions.
Patricia Levesque’s repetition “We know” is a great example of this ideology. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/05/04/is-testing-students-the-answer-to-americas-education-woes
When someone’s “beliefs” are inseparable from their financial and political interests, as is the case with Gates and the other so-called reformers, then it’s absurd to even talk about their sincerity: of course they “believe” in what they’re doing, since it rationalizes their insatiable appetites for wealth and control.
As for valid evidence that might lead to a re-appraisal of their behavior or a change in direction, that’s for saps and weaklings; these people are above all that, in a faux-meritocratic bubble in which the riff raff should just be grateful for the attention of their betters, and in which their dissatisfaction is just noise.
Well said. This arrogance is part of it all, as are those who worship the wealthy, a peculiar disease.
Cody: “If you’re the Reformer in Chief, then where is your evidence?”
Gates: “Evidence? I ain’t got no evidence. I don’t need no evidence. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ evidence!. Evidence is for the little people.”
Here is my personal take on Bill Gates and why he is donating so much money to education. In the early 2000’s the federal government wanted to break up Microsoft. There was a lot of stink over it. Never happened though did it? I believe Gates was made an offer he could not refuse. In 2003 President Bush reunites the US with UNESCO and in 2004 Gates/Microsoft sign an agreement with UNESCO to deliver universal education with UNESCO writing the teacher syllabus and Microsoft promising to support the UNESCO constitution. To me Gates is not interested in education he is only interested in keeping Microsoft from being broken up.
No doubt Microsoft is benefitting form technology in schools. It’s all the rage where I am.
I guess we should count our blessings. Since anyone with billions of dollars can freely experiment on public schools we’re probably lucky a completely insane multi-billionaire didn’t buy all this influence.
It could be a lot worse.
Is there a recorded instance of anyone in government publicly contradicting Gates or even pushing back a little? They all just happen to agree with every part of his huge agenda for tens of millions of public school kids? Why doesn’t anyone ever challenge or question him outside of volunteer bloggers?
Chaira,
It IS a lot worse.
I detailed that in my comment (above).
oops, sorry,
Chiara.
I hate the deference he’s given, and I also hate how we’re constantly ordered to be grateful. I’m not grateful. I didn’t hire him nor elect him and I resent that our cowardly, venal lawmakers have set the public up as somehow beholden to him. I don’t owe him anything, because I didn’t ask for and don’t want any of his “gifts”.
Under no set of circumstances is it healthy to have this single incredibly wealthy person buy this much influence.over issues affecting tens of millions of children.
That is a bad idea, no matter what his motives are. It shows incredibly poor judgment on the part of the people in government either promoting it or passively allowing it to continue.
And yet, Chiara, it isn’t just Bill Gates. Gates is leading the push for “reform,” (he just gave another nearly $4 million to the US Chamber of Commerce) to be sure.
But he’s go a lot of followers, directly or indirectly.
Many of them are in “leadership” positions in public education, as I detailed in my comment above.
Is Bill Gates a problem? Yes.
But so are all the others.
Chiara, There is a revolving door, upper echelon churn, and “Are you anybody” liasons. Gates people go to USDE, USDE sends people to Gates. Harvard sends people to Gates and Gates pays people at Harvard and hundreds of others. People formerly with Gates set up full service consultancies with any kind of messaging you want–white papers to social media. McKinsey & Co provides much of the management talent and “vision thing.” People who wrote and managed the Common Core come from the legacy of Michelle Rhee One now heads the College Board. Foundations offer fellowships and mentoring for the next crop of true believers. It is hard to untangle all of this. It is big data hidden from view.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
If schools were Microsoft,
10. Smaller schools would be acquired, all employees fired, the know-how absorbed, and anything that remotely worked fouled up beyond repair.
9. Teachers could still be blamed for any and all problems, but reclassified as “Education Developer II”.
8. All classroom projectors would suddenly Blue Screen of Death. For the resolution, see 9 above.
7. Students with homework questions would call a help line charging $1.25 per minute and answered by people with vaguely English sounding accents. If students are confused, see 9 above.
6. Microsoft Bob would be resurrected as a classroom tool and all administrators required to wear “I ♥ Clippy” buttons.
5. Schools could now steal ideas from Apple.
4. Teachers would get a few hundred stock options that vest worthless in 5 years.
3. All math theories, works of literature, social history, and scientific method would become copyrighted intellectual property and display an abstract, colorful logo.
2. PhyEd/Health class would encompass mouse clicking exercises, pocket protector safe hex lessons, with diet pop and cheetos nutrition units. If complaints, see 9 above.
1. All teachers, students, administrators, staff, and parents would refer to Gates as “Kim Jong Bill”.
You mean the Microsoft that produced VISTA and Windows 8?
“Being worse than Windows Vista takes some work, but Windows 8 has proved to be up to the task. Even Rube Goldberg would have been embarassed to sketch out something like this.”
Preston Gralla
Computerworld
7/1/14
Thank you Math Vale,
Yes, indeed, he is and will be Kim Jong Bill, hahaha. Back2basic
Valerie Strauss just reported this the other day at The Post:
“Even with the growing opposition, however, most states are still implementing the standards or similar standards.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/12/gates-foundation-pours-millions-more-into-common-core/
And what Strauss reports fails to include the increases in ACT and SAT tests, and in Advanced Placement courses and tests. Not to mention the fact that there are all kinds of students, parents, teachers and administrators – and school board members – who believe these courses and tests are good things.
It’s worth repeating that both ACT, Inc. and the College Board were key players in producing the Common Core. Both have “aligned” all of their products with it.
So, it’s not just Bill Gates, is it?
NOPE!
Many GAGAers also!
Gate’s intentions are irrelevant.
After all, if you rob a bank, it does not matter if you intended to give the money to the poor.
Gates certainly knows that his approach — particularly VAM — not only does not work as advertised but has very negative systemic repercussions.
His company tried something very similar to VAM with disastrous results (a “lost decade” at Microsoft).
The ASA and others have told Gates and others in no uncertain terms that using VAM to evaluate individual teachers is a very bad idea, especially for high stakes decisions.
What kind of person supports policies like VAM in the face of mountains of contrary evidence?
Either a very stupid one or a very dishonest one.
Gates is certainly not stupid which only leaves one possibility.
There is a term for making claims about and supporting actions (VAM) that one knows to be false and thereby knowingly fooling the public: “fraud”.
If not fraud in the legal sense, it is certainly fraud in the scientific sense.
Fraud in a rationo-logical sense!
Or I would call those who willingly ignore “contrary evidence” for what they are–“lying bastards”.
Fraud
The intentional use of deceit, a trick or some dishonest means to deprive another of money, property or a legal right. A party who has lost something due to fraud is entitled to file a lawsuit for damages against the party acting fraudulently, and the damages may include punitive damages as a punishment or public example due to the malicious nature of the fraud. A false representation of a matter of fact—whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed—that deceives and is intended to deceive another so that the individual will act upon it to her or his legal injury.
Fraud is commonly understood as dishonesty calculated for advantage. A person who is dishonest may be called a fraud. In the U.S. legal system, fraud is a specific offense with certain features.
Fraud must be proved by showing that the defendant’s actions involved five separate elements: (1) a false statement of a material fact,(2) knowledge on the part of the defendant that the statement is untrue, (3) intent on the part of the defendant to deceive the alleged victim, (4) justifiable reliance by the alleged victim on the statement, and (5) injury to the alleged victim as a result.
OR IS THIS . . .
Malpractice
The breach by a member of a profession of either a standard of care or a standard of conduct. Malpractice refers to negligence or misconduct by a professional person, such as a lawyer, a doctor, a dentist, or an accountant. The failure to meet a standard of care or standard of conduct that is recognized by a profession reaches the level of malpractice when a client or patient is injured or damaged because of error.
A dereliction of professional duty or a failure to exercise an ordinary degree of professional skill or learning by one (as a physician) rendering professional services which results in injury, loss, or damage
I’m pretty sure what Gates has been engaged in is not simply “malpractice.”
Gates is not an educational “practitioner of “professional’ and teachers and others are not being injured by VAM simply due to “error” or “negligence.”
..and Gates’ pretense that VAM is a valid scientific model for evaluating and even firing individual teachers is certainly fraudulent given what he has seen at his own company and what he has been told by the American Statistical Association and others.
Yes, Poet.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer
Gates has ulterior motives, I suppose.
But what about all those who “lead” our school divisions? Why do they embrace – and reward, as I note in my original comment above – policies and programs and practices that make about as much sense as VAM?
Shouldn’t these people know better? And if they do not, then why are they in positions of “leadership?”
Yes! and because they have played the “leadership” game (otherwise known as “the beautiful people game” to the hilt, while rising to their level of incompetence.
“democracy
May 13, 2015 at 9:47 am
And yet, Chiara, it isn’t just Bill Gates. Gates is leading the push for “reform,” (he just gave another nearly $4 million to the US Chamber of Commerce) to be sure.
But he’s go a lot of followers, directly or indirectly.
Many of them are in “leadership” positions in public education, as I detailed in my comment above.
Is Bill Gates a problem? Yes.But so are all the others.”
I agree 100%. Bill Gates wouldn’t have all this influence if people in government hadn’t allowed him to purchase it.
I don’t blame him at all for buying what they were offering.
15 years or so ago I was working in this tiny, rural, really brutally poor town and I used the library all the time because it was quiet and convenient. The librarian told me they had applied for a Gates grant for computers. They needed some kind of matching funds so I donated. They got the grant and the computers and sent me a postcard thanking me. Done. A real gift. They could do anything they want with the computers. Nice gift for people who could really use a computer at a public library.
Now they’d privatize the library and then point to that library to parachute in and take over every other library. It’s TOO MUCH and it’s profoundly anti-democratic. They’re out of control. I don’t care if he’s the best human being in the world. They’re STILL out of control.
Either ideas stand on the solidness of their own merits, or they’re not that good, and have to be rammed through by machiavellian means.
A third alternative (not intended to be exhaustive):
Ideas can seem good because no others can be imagined at the time and these ideas provide crude guidance of some sort.
When lost in the woods without a compass or knowledge of the direction of the closest road, try walking in a straight line. Eventually you’ll get out of the woods, if you have enough time, water, etc. This seems to be how the billionaire education “reformers” are thinking, insofar as they are thinking at all.
Meanwhile, teachers are saying: “We remember where the road is, if anyone is willing to listen to us.” Or else, Diane Ravitch and Yong Zhao are saying: “We aren’t really lost.”
Extending this metaphor further, I’d say that education really is like hiking in the woods. To me, it seems that so-called “reformers” are shocked that there isn’t a highway and not everyone is zipping along in their own car. Hiking is slow and takes effort, but is rewarding in unexpected ways. You might get lost, but you’ll be okay if you use a compass.
Aaron,
As I note here, it isn’t just the “reformers” who’ve lost their way.
It’s a whole boatload of the people running public schools.
What’s that story about the frog and the scorpio/scorpion?
Shouldn’t legal action be taken to curtail not for profits from stepping in the public education policy arena? I’m surprised no action has been taken yet. I mean it is so obvious that it opens the door to corruption. Time to gather a legal team.
Roxanne, you sound as if the legal system is on your side. The complete democratic leadership is bought out and controlled by the wealthy class that is supported by an elite educated class in the private and ivy league educational leaders.
For instance, VAM is done as a research for Pearson and Bill gates, who create many sounding name of democratic CHOICE. As a result, all government official leaders create rules to impose on teachers and students from K-12 like CCSS, RttT, NCLB…
Therefore, it is time to follow Dr. Christine Langhoff’s advice, as follow;
“Perhaps most importantly, there is a growing awareness that the school district doesn’t own the problem; that it is a COMMUNITY PROBLEM, and it will take the entire COMMUNITY RESOURCES and WILLPOWER to address the needs of its youth in a PROACTIVE and EFFECTIVE WAY. The growing community collaborations with outside agencies and non-profit organizations have already begun to show promise as a major reform strategy.”
I hope that you will be the spearhead in your community with the support from local teachers, students, educator retirees ans grand parents. Back2basic
I have questioned Gates’s motive for years. Thanks to Mr. Cody for what he’s doing.
From what I have read, Gates is an aggressive, astute businessman who knows how to write computer programs. His original success may not have even been the best of programs but knowing how to get it out there and out maneuver others was his strength. Although he is highly intelligent, he may not be all that interested in evidence or even in evaluating it. Once he has his idea, he will run with it and get it into production. I doubt he considers over-confidence an issue.
To West Coast Teacher;
IMHO, Bill Gates is not whom people think he really is. Historically, all authority figures have one thing in common – love arts like painting (Hitler), or music (Winston Churchill), or literature (Chair Mao). Most of all, all leaders are vivid readers and strategists.
It seems to me that THE INVISIBLE POWER at Harvard University blessed Bill with internet HINT and controlled him through Microsoft. Many of you may disagree with my doubt. Bill is very gentle and honest in all interviews on You tube with Steve Job. It is interesting that he prefers to park in the cheapest parking lot and to walk to the ball game. (This is not matching style for a personality from being a young billionaire who paid himself an annual salary of $200,000.
In the mean time, he throws away hundreds of thousands, and millions of dollars to destroy Public School, and providing support to global health issues. It is very debatable to figure out who is really behind Microsoft. Back2basic
Although dissecting who Gates really is is beside the point, I am really curious as to what he directly did to get to this place. Since I am not a big texter, I would like clarification on what HINT means in your reply.
Were one to believe in reincarnation, perhaps Bill Gates is the reincarnation of Captain Edward J. Smith.
“Full Speed Ahead!”
Captain Smith was the captain of the Titanic . . .
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé.
I don’t know why I have to keep reminding people that true free-market fundamentalists do not seek taxpayer dollars to pay for their business enterprises.
What we have here is a parasite of another species entirely, one that destroys the very host it feeds on.
“Free-Market Bravado” is just one of many camouflages and deceptive colorations that it uses to disguise its true character.
It does not serve the purpose of Universal Free Public Education to disseminate and replicate the conceptual warp and semantic poison of this viral parasite.
In a related story …
☞ Scientists: Earth Endangered by New Strain of Fact-Resistant Humans
Over at Valerie Strauss’ blog, you can see a commenter (‘Virginia SGP,” aka Brian Davison) rambling on about how great Bill Gates and VAM are:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/05/12/gates-foundation-pours-millions-more-into-common-core/
But as I keep illustrating, Gates and commenters like Davison are not the only problems.
The National PTA and ASCD and the national associations of elementary and secondary principals, and the NEA and AFT all endorsed Common Core. What were these so-called “leaders” thinking?
And if all that’s not bad enough, the example from Virginia I cited in my original comment (above) compounds the matter.
Democracy, many of the organizations that endorsed Common Core were paid millions by Gates to support it.
Dr. Ravitch:
The truth is that money cannot buy the conscience of the true educator and cannot fool all conscientious human beings.
Whoever shakes hand with DEVIL, will NEVER escape the devil’s grip, because devil can turn a STUPID person like a genius and also can paint an image or put a label of a pervert on the GOOD person.
For example, communist cannot play any trick on people who have lived and endured with communist governing style. In other word, all true, courageous, and conscientious educators NEVER will be fooled or intimidated by devilish actions or policy. May
When I began teaching in the East Bronx in1968, I too thought opening a school for my least disruptive students was a good idea. Then when in South L.A. I felt students might benefit from a loosely uniform course of study as they moved around a lot. It seems to me that by denying the exsistence of these two problems or by not addressing them in a public way (Fear of name calling? Fear of rigidity?) a worse solution has been presented by those without fear. I do not think any of these organizations really knew the details just as congress people seldom no exactly on what they are voting. Until it hit the K-2 classrooms, few teachers knew what was happening.
Know not no (or Freudian slip)
To West Coast Teacher:
You were teacher in 1968 while I was just a teenager in senior high school.
The “hint” meant the devil deal. For instance, Bill Gate was a freshman with good computing skills. The invisible power recognized Gates’ skills and allowed him to access to explore and to come up with solution in the most powerful computer lab in Harvard University.
As a result, the invisible power made Gates to be who he is today with CONDITION that is unknown to the public, as long as the DEVIL has all money plus control over Gates’ creativity, except AVOIDANCE of public outcry to all devilish actions behind Gates’ foundation.
You are much wiser than me. You can identify the true character of any genius. Let’s take Steve Job (people skills), and Steve Wozniak (technical skills). To me, Gates has no people skills, and falls into category of technical skills. For this reason, all actions from Gates’ foundation must be mastered- minded by the invisible power.
Who really wants to destroy American DEMOCRACY? Who is really envy with American prosper, and popularity? Most importantly, with ONLY 200 years of civilization, America offers the most powerful CREATIVITY from all IMMIGRANTS + mixed races from all the corners of the world.
My dream has come true since I left Viet Nam in 1975. I have always tried my best to learn English and to graduate from colleges + universities JUST FOR ONE GOAL that is to communicate and to express my own experience with communism and capitalism WITHOUT CONSCIENCE in public like in this website.
I still wonder WHY western educators are very naive, trusting, and submissive to the DEMOCRATIC LEGAL SYSTEM that is created FOR the rich (privileges) and the manipulative corporations (employers), BUT NOT TO protect CONSCIENTIOUS people!
How could educators cultivate CIVILITY in young learners WITH fully FEAR of being REPRIMANDED such as their loss of teaching profession in telling the truth about INVALID, and STRENUOUS plus MONEY WASTED testing SCHEME? Back2basic