Nancy Bailey read Bill and Melinda Gates’ annual letter, recounting their work of the past year and she noticed a curious omission: They forgot to mention their failed efforts to take control of America’s public schools and privatize them!
Their education philanthropy has been a disaster for public schools and teachers. Do they ever listen to critics or only to fawning sycophants?
She writes:
Bill and Melinda Gates’s 2019 letter “We Didn’t See This Coming,” is filled with their concerns and optimism about everything from commodes to climate change. Always eager to discuss their global initiatives to help the poor, and a variety of other endeavors, they say little about the aggressive ways they are remaking public education to their liking.
Almost every nonprofit created to disparage public schools or the teaching profession has the Gates Foundation as a major donor.
Maybe they don’t notice, or didn’t see coming, how they promoted charters at the expense of public schools. Perhaps they didn’t mean to criticize the teaching profession by meddling with their teacher effectiveness initiative, and supporting Teach for America types. Didn’t they realize the hubbub they’d create wanting to collect massive amounts of data on children?
They don’t seem to understand that public ownership of public schools is critical to a democracy. That’s what is at stake here.
Many educators and parents, however, insist that Bill and Melinda Gates are about privatizing public schools, making the workers they want for the future economy, and replacing teachers with technology.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“They don’t seem to understand that public ownership of public schools is critical to a democracy. That’s what is at stake here.”
Exactly. No public schools, no democracy.
Billionaires generally do not care about democracy which they see as an inconvenience. They do everything in their power to circumvent the will of regular people. They buy representatives with campaign donations to get them to clear cut a path for their agenda. That is why “reform” has been so top down. It is generally billionaire backed privatization.
Will someone explain to me, the connection between democracy and public schools? Our democracy here in the USA, predates government-run public schools. NONE of the framers ever attended a government-run public school.
People who attend private schools, are able to vote, just like any other person. There is no educational requirement, for the franchise.
I do get the connection, between having an educated populace, to be able to vote intelligently.
Does it really matter, where the individual is educated?
Take it slow, like I am a two-year old.
No one today would call the USA of 1779 a democracy. The only people allowed to vote were white male property owners. Many people of color were enslaved and had no rights. Is that your definition of democracy?
Why didn’t the Founding Fathers think of supporting public schools?
In 1800, six-percent of the U.S. population lived in cities and 94 percent spread out living in rural areas.
There was no electricity.
There were no paved roads running from city to city.
There were no railroads in 1800
There were no phones. In fact, there was no telegraph.
To travel more than a few miles a day could take days, weeks, months if you couldn’t hop on a ship and sail closer to your destination.
NOW, what did our Founding Fathers think of funding public schools?
“Two of our greatest Founding Fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, were fierce political adversaries. But in the first years of our nation, these rivals — with vastly different backgrounds and disparate political views — shared common ground. They both believed in the importance of funding public education.
Rather than squabbling, Adams and Jefferson knew that public education was at the heart of democracy.
“The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it,” wrote Adams. “There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.”
“Jefferson, witness to the Revolution, drafter of the Declaration of Independence, and founder of the nation’s first public university, rightfully believed that it was the government and citizenry’s duty to invest tax dollars in public education: “[T]he tax which will be paid for this purpose [education] is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.” …
https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/columnists/founding-fathers-agreed-funding-public-education-is-not-a-debate/article_f05aa5b0-2fed-5c63-be1a-1b013cf49625.html
Today, 86 percent of Americans live in urban areas in or near cities compared to 14 percent in rural areas.
The country has changed drastically from about 3 million spread all over the place to 320+ million. The foundation of our Constitutional Republic with elements of democracy stands/survives on publicly funded public education that the people control and not some despotic, greedy, lying, fraudulent CEO/manager who doesn’t care what the people think.
Thank you, LLoyd, for a brilliant response.
You are welcome. I wonder how many conservatives are still living in the 18th century?
Oy!
I am still not satisfied that publicly-operated schools are a necessity for a republican form of government. Ancient Athens is held up as an example of democracy. See
https://www.ancient.eu/Athenian_Democracy/
But women, slaves, foreigners, and all people under 18 were excluded. And Athens did not have publicly-operated schools.
Similarly, The US declared independence in 1776, and the constitution was ratified in 1789. Women, slaves, foreigners, and people under the age of majority were excluded.
Women got the vote in Wyoming, in 1869. Women got the vote nationally with the passage of the 19th amendment, in 1920.
Can we agree, that an educated populace is a necessity for a republican form of government? But that “democracy”, and our constitution pre-date (national) publicly operated schools?
I find it ironic, that both Jefferson and John Adams were both privately educated, in non-public schools.
I am in agreement with Ben Franklin: “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
But that investment need not be restricted to publicly-operated schools.
Bottom Line: The important thing, is that the population be educated. The specific delivery process, public or private, does not matter. Without privately-educated men like Tom Jefferson and John Adams, our constitutional form of government would not have ever come into being.
I am still not satisfied that publicly-operated schools are a necessity for a republican form of government. Ancient Athens is held up as an example of democracy. See
https://www.ancient.eu/Athenian_Democracy/
But women, slaves, foreigners, and all people under 18 were excluded. And Athens did not have publicly-operated schools.
Similarly, The US declared independence in 1776, and the constitution was ratified in 1789. Women, slaves, foreigners, and people under the age of majority were excluded.
Women got the vote in Wyoming, in 1869. Women got the vote nationally with the passage of the 19th amendment, in 1920.
Can we agree, that an educated populace is a necessity for a republican form of government? But that “democracy”, and our constitution pre-date (national) publicly operated schools?
I find it ironic, that both Jefferson and John Adams were both privately educated, in non-public schools.
I am in agreement with Ben Franklin: “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
But that investment need not be restricted to publicly-operated schools.
Bottom Line: The important thing, is that the population be educated. The specific delivery process, public or private, does not matter. Without privately-educated men like Tom Jefferson and John Adams, our constitutional form of government would not have ever come into being.
In modern terms, ancient Athens would not be considered a democracy, nor would the new American republic in 1776.
If a country today announced its independence and said that the right to vote was limited to people of only one race and one gender, and all others were denied the right to vote, would you consider that country to be a democracy? I wouldn’t.
The definition of democracy has evolved to mean that everyone has the right to vote, once they reach a certain age. Some states allow ex-felons to vote, some don’t. But no state bars people the right to vote if they are women or if they are black. Or if they are white. The US Supreme Court would strike down any such barrier, even with Trump’s additions.
I think it’s fairly clear why they no longer talk about it. Because they’re very powerful people who get a lot of expert advice and the public has soured on “ed reform”?
We’ve now been subjected to this anti-public school dogma for 20 years. It’s not 1993. People are familiar with it now. As they became more familiar with it, it became less popular because it doesn’t actually offer any measurable or practical benefits to children who attend public schools. That wouldn’t matter if 10% of children attended public schools, but since it’s 90% it does matter- a lot.
The question ed reform always had to answer – eventually- was “does this improve public education?” That was literally what they promised, and they haven’t delivered.
Depending on the state and district, they’ve arguably done real harm to millions of public school students. The testing obsession was harmful, the vilification of teachers was harmful, the wholesale lock-step embrace of any and all ed tech was harmful, and the cuts to public school funding were harmful.
That is not what they promised.
I could save the Gates a lot of money. Parents will HATE the social-emotional learning tracking they are planning with Zuckerberg. If they thought people hated InBloom they haven’t seen anything yet.
Wait until parents figure out that Gates and Facebook are working on a system to track public school students thoughts and feelings.
I mean, really. Do none of these people have any common sense? It is arrogant and incredibly intrusive, not to mention creepy as heck, to discuss tracking other peoples children like lab rats! People will hate this! Invest in something else.
And to do this with Facebook! America’s least responsible company. The same company that has consistently misled people about these exact issues! Are they insane? They don’t need any studies. This is a BAD IDEA.
NEWS FLASH !!! Justice Dept’s largest ever education investigation: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/us/college-admissions-cheating-scandal.html
The rich, powerful, and famous seldom talk about their failures and the Gates Foundation has funded so many failures inside their tax-avoidance shelter (the Gates only have to “give-away” 5 percent of the total annually. The rest they can invest to make more money) that has more than doubled their fortune instead of giving it all away, it is a topic they avoid.
Parallel to K-12, the framework for oligarch control of higher education has been established. The Koch’s agenda expands as does Gates’.
This month, billionaire-funded think tank, PPIC, self-appointed “to favor” top down management of Calf.’s university and college system by an outside, “independent council”. (The paper is written by Paul Warren, educated at the neoliberal Harvard Kennedy School of Government, who helped implement accountability and testing for CDE.) The proposal calls for an “independent council” to replace the current governance by consensus. The plan describes unlimited access to data and gives control of monetary decisions about tuition, financial aid, and state funding to the “independent council”. In the prior structure, democratic in nature, diversified interests were represented.
Seven months earlier, in Sept., Gates and Arnold sponsored a well-connected lobby shop’s session on higher ed. The session listed a single university represented- the former Kaplan. The two politician panelists were K-12 privatizers. Other panelists were a former AEI visiting scholar (10 years), now director in DeVos’ Institute of Education Sciences, Lumina’s Strategy Director, who formerly worked for Republican Governors Engler (Mich.) and Daniels (Indiana) and, the Director for Higher Ed Policy from the billionaire funded Education Trust.
That is how the plan operates. They use their money to replace a committee with a few top down operators. Then, the billionaires can have their way. Once again, the objective is to destroy the common good and privatize it, the result of which will be less efficient and cost effective than a public operated college. Quality will decline, but the people at the top will make lots of money. Billionaires could care less about quality for other people’s children.
You are right, retired teacher. Gates’ March 1, 2019, job posting for a Senior Program Officer-digital learning solution-postsecondary success- provides the proof.
And in fact, the less educated and less organized those ‘other people’s children’ are the easier they are to exploit
“They don’t seem to understand that public ownership of public schools is critical to a democracy”
Ah, but they DO understand all too well.
That’s why they are trying to get rid of public schools.
This antidemocratic attitude (exemplified by Alexander Hamilton) has been around since the very beginning — a holdover from the English monarchy.
Alexander Hamilton hated the idea of self rule by the peons:
“It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.”
“Mission Accomplished!”
Mission Accomplished!
Send in computers
Teachers are vanquished
Bots are our suitors
Contracts were written
For software and hard-
Teachers were smitten
By Gates and his guard
Bill Gates does not admit failure because his efforts have NOT failed.
Most states retain the Common Core standards even if they no longer call them that.
And standardized testing on steroids is still very much a part of the education system.
Even VAM is still in place in most states.
Mission Accomplished as far as Gates is concerned.
And Democrats are still supporting most of this stuff.
That’s Gates biggest accomplishment, getting the leaders of the Democratic party to support anti-democratic policies.
Of course (as exemplified by the two big teachers unions), all that was required to accomplish the latter was a little ” bribery.”
That’s one way to think of success. Most states still have the Common Core standards.
But Gates and Coleman promised that the Common Core would raise all test scores and close achievement gaps.
That has not happened.
The NAEP scores have been flat for the past decade, and the scores of the poorest students declined.
They failed.
Gates only talks about student failure as part of his window dressing – the talk is irrelevant to his goals (1) elimination of schools which can serve as the community’s launch pad for overthrow of oligarchy (2) money for the tech industry and, (3) the colonialism that a middle class threatens.
One Man’s failure’s another’s success
“Built-in Failure”
Built-in failure is really success
Shuttering schools is opening chests
Coffers filled with public jewels
For which the Wall Street vulture drools
“Failure is a Business”
Failure is a business
That generates big bucks
And those of us who miss this
Are really sitting ducks
“The Billyanthropist”
Billyanthropist am I
I gave you Common Core
And testing to the sky
I’d like to give you more
Billyanthropist am I
I gave you teacher VAMs
A lovely Chetty pie
And lots of charter scams
Billyanthropist am I
I gave you pseudo-science
And sellebrate the lie
With test and VAM reliance
Billyanthropist am I
Billyanthropy I do
Democracy I buy
Impose my will on you
There’s a segment of Meghan Trainor’s song “Dear Future Husband” which goes:
After every fight
Just apologize
Even if I was wrong
[Laughter] You know I’m never wrong
I think Bill Gates might see himself in those lines.
Bill Gates to the Mirror
Mirror Mirror on the wall
Who’s the smartest of them all?
“Mr William Gates, till death”
(“Junior’s dad” said under breath)
I was reading something the other day, & read that, in a recent year, Melinda Gates was named (in Time Magazine, I think, or another big, “serious” {I have to put it in “” because, after all, wasn’t that the mag [er, rag] that had Michelle Rhee w/a broom on its cover?} publication {well, its not exactly the National Enquirer} “one of the most TRUSTED–my caps–women in America”). !!!!!
Oh, that list might have included more-than-disgraced (just an out-&-out criminal)
Elizabeth Holmes, founder of “miracle” medical company Theranos. If one needs any more evidence just how bad the health care industrial complex is, read the page-turner
“Bad Blood,” by John Carreyrou. Also, there’s a doc about this whole awful hoax this coming Monday, 3/18, on HBO (I think it’s called “Out for Blood.”)
There’s just no end to the greed in this country…it’s literally sickening (many people could have died due to the incompetency of the founder & executive director of Theranos & its faulty blood testing machines.
& then they had the nerve to blame their employees!!
I trust that, like Tammy Wynette, she will stand by her man.
Tyrannos (after Tyrannosaurus) would have been more apt.
The job posting for Gates’ Senior Program Officer-digital learning-postsecondary success-
“seek to transform colleges and universities…meet the nation’s workforce development needs…ensure that the digital learning solution accelerates and integrates with
higher ed’s broader journey”
Since Gates self-appointed as God, why doesn’t he stop the financial sector from dragging down GDP by 2%? Answer, Gates only takes on those in weight classes below him so that he can exploit them.
BTW- also in the job posting, Gates’ man will “prospect for strategic investment opportunities”, while on the “change journey of higher ed .”
Damned jerks like Gates and Arnold..
Another great day in a charter school in Indianapolis.
…………………………….
Tindley Summit Academy [charter school in Indianapolis] instructional assistant arrested for alleged battery of 6-year-old
POSTED 5:27 PM, MARCH 12, 2019, BY FOX59 WEB, UPDATED AT 11:15PM, MARCH 12, 2019
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – An instructional assistant at Tindley Summit Academy has been arrested, accused of battery of a 6-year-old boy.
A police report says school video showed a teacher “putting her knee into a juvenile student’s back causing pain when he wasn’t sitting correctly on the floor with the other children.” Tiffany Warren, 32, is named in the report and accused of battery.
“It kind of blew me away,” Erica Perkins said.
Perkins said her 6-year old son is involved.
“I was angry, and I’m just like what was she thinking? Like, why would you put your hand on somebody else’s child?” Perkins said…
Perkins said she was satisfied with how the school handled the situation, but upset with it still.
“It’s bothering me, because it’s bothering him,” she said.