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The Yin and Yang of Hour of Code & Immigration Reform

Posted by samzenpus on from the take-this-job dept.

theodp writes "The weeklong Hour of Code kicks off tomorrow, with Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates doing their part to address a declared nationwide CS crisis by ostensibly teaching the nation's schoolchildren how to code. But a recent NY Times Op-Ed by economist Paul Collier criticizing Zuckerberg's FWD.us PAC as self-serving advocacy (echoing earlier criticism) serves as a reminder that Zuckerberg and Gates' Code.org and Hour of Code involvement is the Yin to their H-1B visa lobbying Yang. The two efforts have been inextricably linked together for Congress, if not for the public. And while Zuckerberg argues it's 'the right thing to do', Collier argues that there are also downsides to the tech giants' plans to shift more bright, young, enterprising people from the poorest countries to the richest. 'An open door for the talented would help Facebook's bottom line,' Collier concludes, 'but not the bottom billion.'"

2 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. There are plenty of American coders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They just don't want to play American wages.

  2. Re: Two of the most immoral people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually up until the point of the gates foundation, Bill Gates was the ultimate Scrooge. He gae away not one penny, it wasn't until he was called out on that very fact that the Gates foudration was formed.

    Even much of the supposedly altruistic efforts also seem to have an angle:
    http://m.slashdot.org/story/171367

    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/31/bill-gates-corporate-profit-vs-humanity.aspx

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates#Philanthropy