Is Tech Billionaires' Educational Philanthropy a Bug Or a Feature?

Long-time reader theodp writes: Some education watchers have adopted a wait-and-see response to Jeff Bezos' two-pronged $2B pledge to aid the homeless and to establish preschools for low-income children (Mark Zuckerberg's The Primary School interestingly prefers 'em even younger, noting "we admit students at or before birth"). Not so Audrey Watters, who presents her misgivings in a blog post, titled, "It's Like Amazon, But for Preschool" (tl;dr: read her URL), wondering what a chain of preschools that "use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon" might look like, considering Amazon's own labor practices. She asks, "Are private preschool chains really the path we want to pursue, particularly if we believe that access to excellent early childhood education is so incredibly crucial? Can the gig economy and the algorithm ever provide high quality preschool? For all the flaws in the public school system, it's important to remember: there is no accountability in billionaires' educational philanthropy." Sharing Watters' concerns is author Anand Giridharadas, who argues in his new book Winners Take All that the wealthy pursue social change without uprooting the systems that produce inequality. Bezos has a "a stark opportunity to be a traitor to his class, to actually think about giving in ways that transform the system atop which he stands," Giridharadas said. "It is great to be a winner who gives back. It is even better to be a winner who thinks about how winners can take less."

Comments

Yes it is.

[houghi]

The answer is yes.

The bug is that you have an education where help is needed from outside.
The feature is that programs like these can be used as a tax deduction and/or a way to influence.

Having companies have influence in schools is something that is bad, as far as I can see it. When I was young, representatives of TetraPack came to the schools to explain to the kids how their package was better than bottles. Yep, throweing was away better than keeping it.

I was too young to doubt adults, so I believed them. No doubt that many other kids did the same. The goal was that the kids would talk at home how they learned about this great new way of throwing away things was better than old fashioned glass. (Better for the enviroment as well, somehow)

So kids where used directly to influence.

I do not trust companies about the information they give me as an adult. They have been lyinh and cheating enough for me not to trust them. So I certainly not trust them in educating these small humans.