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Zuckerberg and Gates-Backed Startup Seeks To Shake Up African Education
theodp writes The WSJ reports an army of teachers wielding Nook tablets and backed by investors including Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg is on a mission to bring cheap [$6.50/month], internet-based, private education to millions of the world's poorest children in Africa and Asia. In Kenya, 126,000 students are enrolled at 400+ Bridge International Academies that have sprung up across the country since the company was founded in 2009. Bridge's founders are challenging the long-held assumption that governments rather than companies should lead mass education programs. The Nook tablets are used to deliver lesson plans used by teachers (aka "scripted instruction"), as well as to collect test results from students to monitor their progress."
You don't know North American history very well. Before the White Man came, there were many thriving Native American metropolises throughout the United States. They had cities where there was no crime. In fact, they didn't even need police forces of any sort because everybody lived so peacefully. They were so in harmony with nature that rainbows would appear over their city on a daily basis. Their purely vegan diet meant that all animals were left unharmed and unmolested. Their buildings were constructed of concrete and metal, but they used carbon-neutral variants and techniques. The had an extensive asphalt road network (also constructed using carbon-neutral asphalt variants and techniques), but the special thing about their automobiles was that they were actually carbon-negative! That's right, these automobiles actually took carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as the Native Americans drove around! But then the White Man came. Using his muskets and cannons, he destroyed the cities. He shot the rainbows. He made the Native Americans eat meat and hamburgers and french fries. He released the captured carbon dioxide into the air, and actually forced the switch to petroleum-based automobile fuels in order to generate more carbon dioxide. He destroyed the most perfect society that had ever existed.