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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."
Ok, so the guy is so brilliant, why isn't he the one with the multi-million dollar program trying to improve the school system?
He's a communist. Private entrepreneurship is not one of the favored methods of advancing communism. More highly approved by communists would be to influence the government school system so that your agenda is implemented by government force, which is the approach Ayers takes.
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I was about to post the exact same observation. Ayers isn't opposed to Gates program on the merits (or, rather, lack thereof). He's just an ideologue opposed to the idea of ANY corporate investment in what he sees as an exclusively state institution. He got lucky in this case only by accident (opposing every privately-financed initiative in education was BOUND to turn up at least a few duds).
And this is coming from a liberal, lest any of you accuse me of being some right-wing nutball.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I can sum that up as 'conservatives believe that kids should have a different education based on their parents status in society'?
That's not summing it up, that's injecting a completely separate (and straw man) item into the discussion. We're not talking about equal access to public education as the "social justice" Ayers advocates - we're talking about the lefty notion of "social justice" that he thinks should be strongly pounded into kids' heads while they're in school.
I guess I don't see why a small school/equal education system would achieve the 'socialist' agenda
Smallness doesn't achieve it, teachers achieve it. And because socialism - a la Ayers - is so counter to human instincts, it's more likely to get cemented into a maleable young person's mind if its unrelentingly pushed by an authority figure (a teacher) in a more intimate setting. When you're trying to get a kid to swallow something irrational (whether it's socialism or creationism), it's easier if a teacher can focus on fewer students while doing the indoctrinating. If you have teachers that aren't pushing such nonsense, but happen to also be able to teach critical thinking, science, history, grammar, etc., in a smaller setting - that's great. But it's very, very expensive.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Because communists killed tens of millions of people pretty much everywhere they ruled.
Not to invoke Godwin, but Communism should be seen as Nazism is.
Do you have ESP?
All americans live in a socialist state. 1/4 to 1/3 of your work (that's 3-4 months a year) go toward things like SOCIAL security, Medicare & Medicaid (old people and poor people health care), and of course war.
*DrugCheese rants*
It's people like you that shit perfumed logs and are completely responsible for their own lot in life. You shit clean, but darn it, you always meant to be a clean shitter.
It's also people like you, that non-sociopaths like to call, Ignoramouses. This is because, for all your intelligence and good intentions, you completely miss the point and think that the world is there for you to exploit, to make first posts, and sweet smelling potties.
Never for once, does it occur to ignoramuses, that the social health of the nation affects your opportunities, priorities, employability, and your ability to afford that little pill that makes your next-day loaves sweeter than a cinnabon.
Never once does it occur to you that, by giving Jimmy Ghetto, (who has a thing for a robots but can't afford a 120in1 lab, let alone a university education), an opportunity to excel, keeps a gun out of his hands, and keeps him from stealing your sweet smelling poo and wiping it all over himself.
Social Justice is about improving outcomes for people like Jimmy Ghetto, and leveraging previously successful outcomes where there is an imablance between successful outcomes and unsuccessful ones.
In other words, you are a sociopath- and not a terribly well thought one at that. If you could look deeper than your own reflection in the wall, you might see that you DO OWE IT TO YOUR COUNTRY and its fellow citizens, (who contributed to your obviously sweet smelling successful cinnabon outcome), to encourage further positive outcomes.
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