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Bill Gates Proclaims US High Schools Obsolete

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the i-coulda-told-you-that dept.

bryan sent us a story about Bill Gates' take on US High Schools. He says 'America's high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I don't just mean that they're broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean our high schools even when they're working as designed cannot teach all our students what they need to know today.'"

1 of 971 comments (clear)

  1. Bill Gates is wrong. by gordonb · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Of course, he graduated from high school also.

    But, seriously, to lump all high schools as failed is just like, say, lumping all Microsoft software as insecure, bloated, unstable, etc, etc. Truth is not an average or aggregate value. Some Microsoft products are good (coming from a Mac and Linux user). Some high schools are good.

    Like Mr. Gates, I didn't go to some 5000 student county high school. I still remember some of my education and, because of that education and AP testing, I was able to graduate from college in three years - a substantial savings of money. Mr. Gates also did well with his high school education.

    Gates' proposals are not very specific and, at least in the article, are a rehash of old ideas (smaller class size, emphasis of the "basics" - whatever those are). Perhaps we need to go to a British system (with placement exams to determine whether you go to "public" (=private) high level schools or to vocational school. I am actually in favor of resegregating high school by sex - separate schools for men and women. My high school admitted women the year I was in 4th form (=10th grade) and I think it changed the whole school for the worse.