Gary Sasso, dean of education at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, asks a simple question: if billionaires like Bill Gates and Eli Broad care about our nation’s future, why don’t they help the public schools, which enroll 85% of America’s children?
Sasso wrote in Salon:
“Obscured by the rancor of the school reform debate is this fact: Socio-economic status is the most relevant determinant of student success in school.
“It is not a coincidence that the so-called decline of the American public school system has coincided with the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor. According to a 2014 Pew Research Center report, the wealth disparity between upper-income and middle-income families is at a record high. Upper-income families are nearly seven times wealthier than middle-income ones, compared to 3.4 times richer in 1983. Upper-income family wealth is nearly 70 times that of the country’s lower-income families, also the widest wealth gap between these families in 30 years.”
So why do the 1% blame teachers and unions for sociology-economic conditions they can’t control?
“Charter schools will never be the answer to improving education for all. It is simply not scaleable. And yet titans of industry such as Bill Gates, Eli Broad and the Walton family, and billionaires such as John Paulson who earlier this year gave $8.5 million to New York’s Success Academy charter school system, are pouring their millions into support for charter schools—millions that will not, incidentally, be invested in improving the schools that the vast majority of U.S. students attend: traditional public schools.
“Can it be a coincidence that those who have benefited most from the last 50 years of steadily increasing income inequality—the top 10 percent–support an education solution that hinges on denigrating public school teachers, dismantling unions and denying that income inequality is the underlying condition at the root of the problem?”
The facts don’t support their crusade for charters, he says, so they must be driven by ideology.
What do you think?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
True philanthropists in the past built private schools and colleges. Why don’t these folks?
LikeLike
Andrew Carnegie built libraries. Julius Rosenwald built schools for black children across the South at a time when there were very few provisions for black children.
LikeLike
It’s not just grade schools; public universities struggle to raise funds, while the elite private universities receive huge gifts. Should they go to college, the vast majority of students go to the colleges/universities that rarely receive gifts.
LikeLike
Colin —
Excellent point. While those programs in the Ivies get multi-million $ grants on a regular basis, albeit often for football stadium upgrades and business school students, those in state schools in the humanities are grateful for merely slower tuition increases every year. For example, as state schools in Illinois (2015-17) literally were weeks away from closing because of a crazy ideologically-driven governor,, where were the billionaires offering help for 10s of thousands of poor folks just trying to get an education? They could have demanded all sort of “innovations” during that time, and rather than starve (close), many universities would have jumped at the chance.
The answer, of course, is that Crazy Rauner is one of them, a billionaire with an agenda, and that says it all.
JVK
LikeLike
I would like to see more NGOs (non-government organizations like the Kiwanis and other service clubs) get involved and contribute financial resources, and “sweat equity” to publicly-operated schools.
I once worked for Lucent Technologies in Red Bank, New Jersey. This was in 1997, when many public schools did not have their schools wired for internet. Lucent initiated a terrific program, where engineers would volunteer, to install cabling and other hardware, in publicly-operated schools. These kinds of partnerships between corporations and publicly-operated schools, are excellent, and I wish more corporations would show this kind of initiative.
LikeLike
I got a better idea: how about if corporation and billionaires just pay their effing taxes??? Sorry for the language, but it really pisses me off that the wealthy have spent the last 40 years dodging taxes and suffocating public works, and now we’re supposed to think so highly of them because of their “charities” and NGOs and “non-profits” and what not? Bite me.
LikeLike
Related – Most infuriating is that the US maintains military spending at a rate of more than the next 8 countries combined, primarily to protect the access of these corporations and their owners to resources and markets. What other justification could there be for having military bases in over 100 countries in the world? Yet when it comes time to pay for this private security force, where are they?
LikeLike
Ray – yes, an excellent point.
LikeLike
Corporations do not pay taxes. Corporations only collect taxes.
In Europe, many corporations work with vo-tech schools, to provide apprenticeships, to give technical students “real world” experience. I believe , that here in the USA, we are going to see similar cooperation between corporations and vo-tech schools.
LikeLike
I work at the Pentagon. Despite recently closing hundreds of bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States still maintains nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and territories abroad—from giant “Little Americas” to small radar facilities. Britain, France and Russia, by contrast, have about 30 foreign bases combined.
Each of these military bases, is vital to US security interests. We live in a violent and dangerous world. Iran and North Korea are approaching nuclear capability.
The US Constitution mandates that the federal government will provide for the common defense.
Corporations do not pay for our military. We all do.
LikeLike
“Corporations do not pay taxes. Corporations only collect taxes.”
What the eff is that supposed to mean? Corporations are supposed to pay taxes. Currently the top marginal corporate tax rate is 35%. That means corporations should be paying roughly a third of their revenue for the privilege of doing business under the protections of the United States government. Currently most major corporations are off-shoring and otherwise hiding their income for the deliberate purpose of not paying what they owe. If they would simply repatriate that money, their “charitable donations” (sic) would pale in comparison.
And I don’t know what the hell you mean by “corporations only collect taxes.” Are you saying that corporations are government entities? Only government agencies (specifically, the IRS) have the power to collect taxes.
You, sir, with all due respect, are delusional.
LikeLike
@Dienne. No corporation has ever paid taxes, and none ever will. When you buy a widget, made by the XYZ corporation, you pay for the cost of raw materials of the widget. You also pay for the cost of the labor to make the widget, the cost of the transportation to bring the widget to market, the royalty to the inventor who invented the widget, etc. All of these costs, are “laid off” to the final consumer. One of the costs of the widget, is the cost of the taxes paid by the corporation who produced the widget. All of the taxes that the corporation must rebate to the government, are contained in the cost of the widget, which is paid by the consumer.
see
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/09/22/corporations-do-not-pay-taxes-they-cant-theyre-not-people/#8df354562228
LikeLike
Q And I don’t know what the hell you mean by “corporations only collect taxes.” Are you saying that corporations are government entities? Only government agencies (specifically, the IRS) have the power to collect taxes.END Q
i
Corporations are not government entities. Nevertheless, corporations must collect the costs of the raw materials, when they produce widgets. They must collect the costs of transporting widgets to market. They must collect the costs of paying their workers on the widget assembly line. They must collect the costs of the taxes, which they must rebate to the government. They must collect the costs of the factories where the widgets are made.
All of these costs are collected, when the widget is purchased by the consumer.
So, you can see, that the corporation is a “collector” of all of the costs of the widget, including the taxes.
LikeLike
Chas,
Join ALEC.
LikeLike
Many corporations also receive a subsidy from the government to produce widgets. This is corporate welfare that rarely seems to be part of the discussion. http://thefederalist.com/2013/09/30/calculating-the-real-cost-of-corporate-welfare/
LikeLike
“Corporations do not pay for our military. We all do.”
Of course they don’t. They’d have to pay taxes to do that. They just get the benefit of our military for free. Conservatives used to be opposed to freeloading.
LikeLike
Ah, I get it. The standard right-wing argument that any costs imposed on corporations just get passed on to the consumer. Yawn. So basically what you’re admitting is that corporations “collect” taxes that they don’t send on to the government – do I have that right? I think that’s representation without taxation. Good gig if you can get it.
LikeLike
Q The standard right-wing argument that any costs imposed on corporations just get passed on to the consumer. Yawn. So basically what you’re admitting is that corporations “collect” taxes that they don’t send on to the government – do I have that right? I think that’s representation without taxation. Good gig if you can get it. END Q
You are starting to see the light. ALL costs of production: manufacturing, transportation, labor, raw materials, factory rentals, etc. are passed on to the final consumer, when the widget is purchased. Taxes are one of these costs, just like all others. The final consumer purchases the widget, with the costs (including taxes) imbedded in the widget.
You are mistaken, if you think that corporations collect taxes, that they do not send on to the government. Corporations send funds on to government at various levels, using the money that they charged in the final costs of their products.
@RT: There most certainly is corporate welfare. No doubt. States and localities provide all kinds of incentives to induce corporations to locate industries in their communities. Just look at Carrier in Indiana. The air-conditioning firm is down-sizing, and moving some of its operations to China.
LikeLike
Dienne
Better you than me with slang, kudos to you and my Senator who dropped the F bomb a few weeks ago. I am past cursing and waiting for the next phase. Which may have me dropping my life long objection to the 2nd amendment .
Charles
Facts do matter even in a post fact world. As I told both my congressman at a Town Hall and the Political Coordinator for Senator Kristen Gillibrand . I do not need Democrats working with Republicans in the interest of oligarchs and not the American people .
Here are the ———- facts
In the 1950s when “America was great” and had things to do, like pay for WW2 ,the Cold War , the Interstate Highway system……..
The top marginal tax rate was 91%.. Yes they never paid that. After all the cheating and high priced accounting schemes they paid an effective average rate of a PALTRY 70% .!!!!!
Today that top rate stands at 39 percent with an effective average rate on that top marginal bracket of a whopping 23%!!!!!! . With many paying much lower including the turd in the WH .
In the 1950s when America was great Corporations picked up 32% of the Federal tax burden, today that figure is 10% . Not only do they not pay the 35% corporate rate . Paying around 25 % many paying less ,they hold their profits overseas un-taxed anywhere, waiting for a tax holiday to bring that money home . As a conservative you should be railing about the ” moral hazard ” of allowing criminals to violate the law and benefit by it . If you or I were to refuse to pay taxes we would receive escalating penalties for not doing so. 5% a month more for each month the money is not repatriated would have these CEOs bringing that money home before the share holders threw them into the barn fires.
But more importantly Charles when “America was Great” only 50% of corporate profits went to share holders . The other 50% went to Plant
and Equipment, Research and Development and it went to employees
in the form of increases in wages and benefits . Benefits like defined benefit pensions , health insurance coverage , educational bennifits both work related and non work related, vacation time …
Today 94% of profits are returned to shareholders ,while wages, pensions , healthcare bennifits bite the dust . Even the concept of full time work bites the dust as more and more Americans regardless of educational background are forced into the Gig economy in-order to gin even greater profit returns.
Now American CEOs and Oligarchs are extremely brilliant .But they are not worth 10 times what other G 20 country CEOs are worth . Not worth 350 times what their average employees are worth .
I do not need charitable projects of chump change . Projects that amount to a pittance of profits . Projects I may add, that were far more prevalent when they were picking up their fair share. Now they have diverted the wealth of the nation to the very top.
So it is time to level the playing field . There are no free markets, never have been never will be. It is a fairy-tale .
Government exists for one purpose, to decide how the fruits of production will be distributed , always has and always will.
Or for the hundredth time :
“Economics is who gets what .
Politics who decides who gets what.” Laswell
We will level this playing field through democratic means or history has many examples where it was leveled with pitchforks and axes. The American Oligarchy has to look no further back than the fall of the Soviet Union or the Arab Spring to see that the millatary does not always always do what the Oligarchy expected.
At the current time they have been able to shift the blame for this widespread decline in the standard of living to minorities . It is not the evil banker or despicable CEO responsible for you situation . It is the welfare queen and the illegal immigrant. Sooner or latter this long standing diversion , rooted deep in Americas psyche will collapse .
They are counting on the fact that those militarized police forces will save their hides . That may not happen.
,
LikeLike
“You are mistaken, if you think that corporations collect taxes, that they do not send on to the government.”
What do you call off-shoring? What are tax havens for?
Incidentally, you and a former commenter, teaching economist, share the same faux naivete about how the world works. I don’t know if it’s sock puppetry or just standard right-wing bullcrappery, but the talking points get pretty stale.
LikeLike
Well said Dienne!!
LikeLike
Q What do you call off-shoring? What are tax havens for?
Incidentally, you and a former commenter, teaching economist, share the same faux naivete about how the world works. END Q
Corporations move their factories and operations to foreign locales, to take advantage of lower labor costs, lower taxes, lower real-estate costs, lower regulatory costs, etc. Carrier is moving a portion of its Indiana air-conditioning operations to China. The NAFTA has permitted US corporations to relocate to Mexico, and then send their goods to the USA, duty-free. This is how the world works. Corporations are not charities, they seek to improve their bottom line, by buying (labor, raw materials, taxes) in the cheapest market (overseas), and then selling in the dearest market (the USA). So what?
And corporations move their assets to lower-tax havens like the Cayman Islands, or the Netherlands Antilles, to escape the tax bit of Uncle Sam. Again, so what?
I have lived under socialism, capitalism, and in an Islamic Kingdom. I have spent 16 (sixteen) years of my life in foreign countries. I am an electronics engineer, but I know how the world works.
LikeLike
Public education should never be reliant on so-called partnerships with corporations.
Corporations should stop seeking tax abatements.
Corporporate welfare at the expence of support of public education and the common good is almost always a rip-off marketed as a job-creator and tax producer—and almost never audited for performance relative to the promises made.
LikeLike
@Laura: I disagree. When I worked for Lucent, the company provided cabling and engineering advice, to assist many publicly-operated schools, in obtaining internet service. The engineers volunteered their time, and we installed cabling and fiber-optics in schools that otherwise could not afford it. The company did not take a tax deduction, and we all volunteered our “sweat equity”, as a goodwill gesture to the community.
I liked to think of it, as a pioneer “barn-raising”, like in the old west, when the neighborhood would all work together, to build a schoolhouse for the community. People working together, helping people.
LikeLike
Chas,
Did the neighbors get a profit or a tax write off?
LikeLike
Thank you. The billionaires of today do not help others. If they give someone money, strings are attached. If Bill Gates were to start giving money to my public school district, he would use our acceptance to force one of his heinous inventions like stacked ranking on us. Billionaires of today have zero empathy, zero sympathy, zero charity. Public schools should steer clear of any “civic partnerships”. (We have a big problem RIGHT NOW with Austin Beutner trying to create one here in L.A.: http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-lausd-beutner-panel-20170719-story.html.)
LikeLike
Why doesn’t Lucent just pay the taxes they owe and then the government can give that money to the schools to use as they see fit? Also, government money is a steady, predictable stream. Private money can be shut off at any time for any reason, especially after that warm glow fades from Lucent’s dear little heart (sic).
LikeLike
Chas,
Did the tech community that surrounds Lucent seek to get a nice, hefty profit from collecting mountains of student and teacher data once the hardware was installed? Did the schools then diminish academic autonomy and force teachers and students to use software that only purported to be educational?
That you felt good doing it didn’t make it right. It would have been better to donate money without strings than tech products that require the purchase of more tech products to be useful.
LikeLike
I am sorry that so many of you feel this way. I believe that all of us, have a stake in our children’s future. I have absolutely no problem with corporations forming working relationships, with publicly-operated schools. The African proverb is cliche, but true notwithstanding. It will take the community, the private sector, the charitable organizations, and individuals, to raise our children.
The Dept of Ed is seriously examining expanding apprenticeships. Corporations will partner with vo-tech schools, to give students “real-world” experience. The Germans have been partnering their trade schools, with corporations like Mercedes-Benz, for many years. When I was in college, I obtained a summer internship as a technical editor, with a telecommunications journal. Without corporations, apprenticeships are impossible.
Private charitable organizations, and non-profits should take an interest in publicly-operated schools. I am certain that groups like Kiwanis, and other service clubs, would be delighted to contribute “sweat equity”, and other tangible support to children in public schools.
One of my favorites is the Masonic Angel Fund. The fund contributes re-conditioned computers, and food, and other types of items and support to school children (public schools only). I am proud to be associated with the Fund.
see http://www.masonicangelfund.org
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” – Albert Pike
LikeLike
Q That you felt good doing it didn’t make it right. END Q
@LCT: Of course it was the right thing to do. I assisted in wiring public schools for the internet. The schools could not have afforded this service otherwise.
LikeLike
“The Dept of Ed is seriously examining expanding apprenticeships. Corporations will partner with vo-tech schools, to give students “real-world” experience.”
Great! Corporations get cheap (or even free!) labor! And you think this is “charitable”. Or, rather, you want us to think you think this is charitable. As I say to my husband occasionally when he’s trying to pull something, I’ll believe you’re that stupid if you really want me to….
LikeLike
“Of course it was the right thing to do.”
No, the right thing to do is for Lucent (and every other company) to pay their effing taxes so the schools can afford their own internet connection (or whatever else they want to spend that money on). But that wouldn’t give you that warm, snuggly feeling, would it?
LikeLike
It takes a pillage.
LikeLike
Charles
Nothing wrong with apprenticeships. . Charles let me understand something, have we never had apprenticeships in this country and do we not have apprenticeships to this day . The myth of a skills shortage is hard to kill. You see if it goes something like this, if you have a shortage of skilled personnel you train them . You don’t insist that the government train them . You take some of your profits and invest in training employees . Of course you would have to actually have a demand for those skills before you made that investment. As that most American corporations are not willing to make the investment . The demand must not be there .
The skilled Construction Trades, all have apprenticeship programs. They range from 3-6 years some are in conjunction with State college programs that offer a 2 year associate degree. The employers pay for the programs as well as lifetime additional training (the College courses ,non trade related are paid by the state. ) . Theoretically the schooling combined with a varied work experience creates a skilled journeymen in many aspects of an industry . Some of which many will never see, but they are trained and capable.
That is not the training most employers are looking for . They would love the state to pick up the tab for their training that may only be applicable to their plant. They would love the state to pick up part of the wages as well, during the training period. Two big myths that do not show up in the employment or other economic data . A skills shortage and the robots .
The other thing to consider, why would someone undertake a 6 year apprentice program? If they were not reasonably assured of a good wage and a job after completion. As the good wages Union construction, where those apprenticeships are found disappear we see complaints from employers that they can’t get skilled trades man .
Wait we are already hearing that in the non union South .
http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/lessons-on-labor-economics-for-the-owner-of-a-roofing-company-in-nebraska
LikeLike
“Tech companies reap a bonanza wiring schools”
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/696475/Tech-companies-reap-a-bonanza-wiring-schools.html?pg=all
LikeLike
Good catch, SDP. I’m shocked, I tell you! Well, okay, no, I’m not. Appalled, yes, but it takes a lot to shock me these days.
LikeLike
It’s no surprise that corporations like Lucent have ulterior motive$ when they appear to be performing good deeds.
It is also no surprise that they take advantage of the generous nature of people like Charles, whom they get to work for them for free.
I have worked in the corporate world.
The people at the bottom are generally good, honest generous people.
The people at the top, not so much. They will chreat and lie — even to their own employees to get whatever it is they want.
LikeLike
Ouch! The truth hurts, doesn’t it, Chahls.
LikeLike
@SDP: Good article, thanks. So some corporations made some profits in wiring schools for the internet, and for voice. I have absolutely no problem with that. Corporations exist to make money. Sometimes, they give out “free” samples, with the objective of earning a profit in the future.
The Lucent program enabled schools, who otherwise could not afford it, to get voice/internet. If Lucent made some money on the deal, then terrific.
I am glad to have been a part of it.
LikeLike
In 1982, when I was in college, I sought out a summer internship with a telecommunications journal. They hired me, at a rate of $5 per hour, which was barely minimum wage. In exchange for my working for them at a low wage, I was given extensive training in the publishing industry, and in how to review/publish technical articles. I was delighted to get the work, even though I barely made expenses. (I was going to college in Kentucky, and the internship was in New Hampshire).
The journal got my labor for a low rate. I got extensive training. Both the “buyer” and the “seller” were satisfied with the arrangement. No one was cheated.
When I finished college, and started applying for work, this apprenticeship, was an excellent “selling point” on my resume. Telecommunications firms sometimes have a difficult time finding entry-level engineers with technical publishing experience.
I am thrilled that the USA is seriously considering expanding apprenticeships/internships for vo-tech students. College students, have for many years been given “co-operative” learning, outside the classroom. They work at a low wage, or no wage, and earn college credit.
This idea is not new. The Germans and other European nations have been sponsoring apprenticeships for many years. We are all excited about importing ideas from Finland (I agree), and we should give serious consideration to importing German ideas, like apprenticeships.
LikeLike
These private corporations are GREEDY. They ADVERTISE that they are doing philanthropic work when in fact, these corporations are just making sure they get theirs.
LikeLike
Gordon Lafer is effective in teasing out the bottom line objectives and, in dispensing with privatization’s “ideology” guise in his book, “The One Percent Solution”- a must read for all Americans. Chap 4 is titled, “The Destruction of Public Schooling”.
LikeLike
I challenge the billionaires to invest in poor public schools as prescribed by honest research and experience and compare the results to their “no excuses” institutions.
Give our public schools: Adequate Funding, Safe and clean environment, Good Health, Motivation to Learn, Licensed and Experienced Teachers, Professional Development , Rich and full Curriculum, Vocational Ed, Wrap around services, Adequate Resources, Up-to date technology, Fun, Jobs for Parents, Parent involvement, and Community control, and watch what happens.
LikeLike
The reason is that billionaires do not really believe that ALL the poor kids in public schools are worthy of their largesse. They want to help the ones who will be a credit to them. They wish the others would disappear and therefore they especially love charters that identify the unworthy kids and make them disappear.
LikeLike
As Mike Petrilli once wrote, charter schools are for “the strivers”
LikeLike
I’ve spoken to one of these charter advocates, and asked the same question. The main reason is money. The people involved here are business people, and business people like to make money. They are not outright benevolently “giving away” money to the charter schools. They are either investing, or they are donating. It’s called social impact investing. Charter schools are all about investments and “charitable donations.” The “benevolent” social impact investors want to know they can get a return on their investment while at the same time “doing good,” and feeling good about the money they are investing. Those making the charitable donations want the tax deduction. Take away either of those “profit” motives and you’ll see charter school investments and donations go the way of the dodo bird.
Aside from that, the stated reason they are not supporting the public schools is simple. First, there is the category of “benevolent philanthropists” who simply do not believe in public schools. They are a lost cause. Then there are those who do believe in public schools, and agree that every child should have the opportunity to attend a great neighborhood public school (much as some of these investors themselves did), but perceive the problems to be so time-consuming and expensive to fix that they say the kids involved deserve immediate attention, and they see charter schools as the “quick fix” for the kids involved. So, rather than investing in the public schools for the long haul, they put their money into charter schools, where they can get a return on investment and a “quick fix.” Unfortunately, the quick fix, in the long-run, is proving to be very harmful. Why? Because what really needs to be fixed is the societal poverty and community dysfunction and instability. Most high performing schools can be found in stable communities. No magic sauce there. The benevolent ones have yet to figure that one out yet — or, they already know it… but fixing poverty is not as sexy or lucrative as social impact investing. So… we need to keep telling them that their “good intentions” are hurting the majority of kids, not helping them.
LikeLike
Deborah, exactly right.
LikeLike
“if billionaires like Bill Gates and Eli Broad care about our nation’s future, why don’t they help the public schools, which enroll 85% of America’s children?”
Yes, if billionaires like Gates and Broad cared about our nation’s future, they would be doing what they could to help the largest swaths of the nation. They are not helping the largest swaths, but only a select “deserving” few. Ergo, what can we conclude about Gates and Broad caring about the future of the nation? Either they are just completely blind to the effects of their misguided policies and we need to “educate” them, or they are plenty “educated” and their policies are not “misguided” but instead doing exactly what they intend them to do. Gates, incidentally, is on record saying that the world is grossly overpopulated and we need to undertake substantive population reduction. In light of that, I know which conclusion I’m betting on.
LikeLike
Undereducating People leads to more population growth, not less.
Gates and Broad have a worldview based on the premise that our schools are failing, and they must be disrupted by the free market and the gig economy, like Uber, airBNb, etc.
Is anyone near them brace enough to tell them they are wrong?
LikeLike
So you’re going with the “education” conclusion? If someone, somewhere could just get through to Gates, he’d change his mind (and his ways)? I wish I could believe that.
LikeLike
Dienne,
I was in Seattle twice and tried to meet with Gates. I did get a nice lunch with the then-President of the Gates Foundation but Bill avoided me. He was in town. He had plenty of notice.
LikeLike
Gates will change his mind when DeVos changes hers.
On the 4th of Never.
LikeLike
Ask Paul Allen (cofounder of Microsoft and the real technical guru that put MS on the map) what he thinks of telling Bill Gates that he is wrong.
Gates has a reputation for shouting down anyone who disagrees with him.
I’m sure his wife and kids learned very quickly not to disagree, which is undoubtedly why his wife leaves all the “data analysis” on GF projects to Bill.
LikeLike
Actually, you don’t need to ask Allen
Just watch the interview he gave for sixty minutes
LikeLike
Incidentally,Allen also talks about how, while he was having radiation therapy for cancer, he overheard Gates and Steve Ballmer talking about (conspiring) how to dilute Allen’s share in Microsoft “down to nothing”.
Gates is not the Mr. Nice guy that everyone thinks he is.
He’s cutthroat.
LikeLike
Forewarning: Leslie Stahl is obnoxious in that interview.
But that’s pretty typical of mainstream reporters these days.
LikeLike
Diane, you should be glad if Gates is actually avoiding you — although you should check your rear view mirror periodically to make sure 🙂
If what Allen says is anywhere close to accurate, the other alternative would not be fun.
LikeLike
Jeff Raikes may have planted a listening device when I was distracted
LikeLike
You have said you use an iPhone on the road, but if you have any PCs with Windows at your house that are connected to the internet, you might want to disconnect them.
Of course, there is really no need for Gates to physically follow you since he can just follow your blog. 🙂
Who knows, maybe he is watching (or even commenting on) this very thread.
LikeLike
I used a PC for many years. It got so many viruses and malware that I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I had so many anti-virus programs that they fought each other.
I abandoned the PC and the viruses that went with it.
LikeLike
Why would Gates be a troll when he could just make bots to do it for him? There are also thousands of paid deformist trolls and corporate spies hired by — who was it, the 74 and the US Department of Education?
LikeLike
LCT,
You don’t have to look far to find trolls. I have a few on this blog.
LikeLike
Because,like blondes, trolls have more fun.
LikeLike
And, like girls, Trolls just want to have fun
Research shows it.
https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/02/16/trolls-just-want-to-have-fun/
LikeLike
Too bad there is not an anti-virus (or Windows patch) for Bill.
LikeLike
The results of that study would be the same for Billion dollar CEOs like — drumroll please — Bill Gates. Bills just wanna have fun.
LikeLike
Diane,
I would be surprised if trolls hadn’t been specifically designed/prompted and sent to this blog. There’s one on the Answer Sheet that stepped in as soon as Virginia SGP left.
LikeLike
Pro-public education blogs attract trolls and they are often the very same people. Most of mine are in moderation, so I get to review their comments before they are posted. They hate that as it forces them to restrain their bile or get deleted.
LikeLike
Would the place where troll comments await moderation be considered a “troll mine”?
LikeLike
As Merle Travis sang,
It’s dark as a dungeon
And damp as the dew
Where bullcrap is double
And true claims are few
Where the brain never calls
And the sun never shines
It’s dark as a dungeon
Way down in Troll mines
LikeLike
Shotgun houses, shanty shacks
Countin’ those ties on the Ayn Rand track
Thirty-four more, it’s almost time
To see my overlord walking out of that
Troll mine.
LikeLike
http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2017/07/18/how-american-families-pay-for-college-2017?page_all=1
LikeLike
The 1% wants to privatize public education in order to create a massive movement of wealth from the middle class to the already wealthy. While there may be a few that still believe they are trying to help poor students, the majority of billionaires resent paying taxes and do not care about anyone other than themselves. They also resent unions because they represent the interests of workers which may lead to less profit for them. Many billionaires also want to destroy democracy. ALEC, at their recent meeting in Colorado, is proposing an “alternate way” to select senators. Democracy offends some of the billionaires.
LikeLike
You got it.
LikeLike
“Charter schools will never be the answer to improving education. It [sic] is simply not scaleable.”
If the goal is better education for all, then we have several decades’ worth of strong evidence showing that traditional public schools zoned and assigned on the basis of parents’ race and purchasing power isn’t scaleable, either. There are winners and losers in any “separate but equal” scheme: see NPE’s only “A”-rated state for funding equity, NJ, for many examples.
I would guess the primary reason wealthy people tend to donate more to “reform” is their not-unwarranted fear, particularly in the aftermath of the Newark debacle, that their money will be wasted. In larger districts there are near daily reminders of how money doesn’t end up helping kids.
“The comptroller’s office examined the computer inventory at eight schools and one administrative office. The comptroller’s office found that 4,993 out of 14,329 pieces of computer hardware at those locations were not properly accounted for, and that 1,816 pieces were not found by the auditors at all.”
LikeLike
Money wasted on creating a dual system of schools.
You and Betsy DeVos agree that public schools are a “dead end”
LikeLike
The “Newark debacle” was pro-charter control of Zuckerberg’s donation that went mainly to consultants who came up with a one-Newark plan so outrageously stupid that it didn’t even consider transportation costs.
That’s what happens when you have overpaid TFA graduates who don’t know a thing about public education but do know a lot about toadying to the rich and powerful trying to make policy.
By the way, keeping account of equipment like fourteen THOUSAND (!) pieces of computer equipment takes money and staff. And we are told that public schools need to get rid of that nasty bureaucracy. Of course, charters piggyback on that bureaucracy for free but then again, how else would they pay their staff and PR flacks to promote their agenda to enrich their toadies and charter CEOs at the expense of the most vulnerable children who they will call violent at age 5 or 6 as long as it brings more money to their pockets.
It is racist to accept the word of a charter school CEO who claims she has no choice but to suspend as many as 20% of the 5 year olds in her low-income schools because all of them are so violent. It is shocking that Tim keeps attacking me for not agreeing with him that lots of non-white charter school kindergarten children are as violent as he keeps insisting they are.
I’m sorry, Tim. You can attack me all you want because I won’t believe you when you insist that a shockingly high number of non-white 5 year olds in high performing charter schools are just as violent as your idol keeps telling America they are.
But I’m sure lots of racist Trump supporters believe every word of your idol’s attempt to smear the children that charters don’t want to teach as violent. You should be proud you convinced those racists they were right all along. They know that when a white charter CEO identifies so many of her non-white kindergarten students as violent, it is because they are. And Tim attacks me because I don’t believe her.
LikeLike
By paying taxes
Sent from my iPhone
>
LikeLike
Years ago I attended a School Board meeting and the Supt. was presenting this power point to the Board and interested attendees.
The minute my friend and I saw where Bill Gates was featured, we were suspicious.
LikeLike
This should be known everywhere:
BILL GATES: BEWARE
LikeLike
Great point. I’m sharing this on FB. It also reminds me of a point I’ve been bringing up lately regarding billionaires wanting to run for office. The problem is that these celebrities/billionaires don’t want to run for City Council, they skip ahead to Governor or President.
Dangers to democracy.
LikeLike
In summation so far, the reason billionaires don’t help public schools is that they don’t help anyone; they only invest, seeking a return on their investment. They give you hardware that requires the purchase of software. They give you a charter chain that prevents democracy from getting in the way of the hardware investment. They make you a tax shelter for themselves.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Billionaire Hokum”
Hardware that is broken
Windows that won’t open
Billionaires are soakin’
Public with their hokum
LikeLike
The key to the question, Who do the billionaires “help” can be narrowed down to the word help. “Helping” others has become thin camouflage for lucratively helping themselves.
LikeLike
That’s it in a nutshell.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Villainthropists, all!
LikeLike