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A Gates Foundation Education Initiative Fizzles
theodp writes "Three years ago, Sarah-Palin-bogeyman William Ayers published a paper questioning the direction the small school movement was taking (PDF) with the involvement of would-be education reformers like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And now, after $2 billion in grants, Bill Gates concedes that in most cases his foundation's efforts in that area fell short. 'Many of the small schools that we invested in did not improve students' achievement in any significant way,' said Gates. Bill does cite High Tech High as one of the few success stories, but even there has to limit his atta-boys to the San Diego branch — the Gates-backed Silicon Valley High Tech High closed its doors abruptly due to financial woes (concerns about the sustainability of Gates-initiated small schools were voiced in 2005). Not surprisingly, some parents are upset about the capital that school districts wasted following Bill's lead."
And you wonder why conservatives don't like Ayers?
I hadn't before, but I am wondering now.. what is it about small schools, social justice, equity and community that conservatives dislike?
...after the following sentence in the first paragraph:
And you wonder why conservatives don't like Ayers?
Nobody who's sensible about education likes that kind of shit. Social justice, equity, and community are entirely peripheral to the process of education.... unless you're trying to "educate" kids to be little pinko commie idealists with a flawed view of reality.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
"Conservatives don't like Ayers" because he is a goddamn traitor and terrorist. Anybody who thinks that guy is a "boogeyman" doesn't know a damn thing about his actual history (much less that of his wife Bernadine Dohrn, who's even worse).
No, we don't like Ayers because he tried to BOMB GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS.
This coming from the side that goes on and on and on about their NEED to have loads of weapons around specifically so they can attack the government. Pot, meet kettle.
Honestly, you shouldn't have said anything. It wasn't funny and now you sound like a whiner.
For example, the access to my country's equivalent to the ivy league schools doesn't depend on your family's wealth
Right. It depends on someone else's wealth. So, you could have two extremely hard-working parents who have a kid that's of average intelligence and native academic skills. They know that putting that kid in a really excellent setting (analagous to an Ivy League school) would help the kid make the very most of his averageness. And they're willing to put their hard work (money) on the line. And then you've got another kid of significant IQ, academic potential, etc., whose parents don't have the same hustle or dedication to getting their offspring educated. You're saying that the two hard working parents should give up on having their kid go to the really good school, and instead write a check to put a different kid - one that someone else decided to have - into that school. That's "social justice?" You're making the average kid's parents slaves to the smart kid.
you clearly demonstrated you failed to understand the concept
Oh no, I get it just fine. You want the government to say which kid gets to benefit from a parent's hard work. Your notion of "social justice" isn't that a smart kid should naturally get access to a better school, it's that hard working parents don't have a say in which child - their own, or someone else's - gets the benefit of their hard work. How just of you!
True social justice is found in the notion that it's not very smart to have children when you're not ready to provide for them. Socialism preaches a disconnect in that causality, and pushes the burden of consequence onto other people - and by definition, the very other people who are doing the most work.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
I'm surprised he's still alive, honestly. You would think a scumbag like Ayers would have been offed by some vigilante many years ago.
Life is not for the lazy.