Posted on 02/27/2005 11:34:56 PM PST by The Loan Arranger
WASHINGTON — Addressing the nation's governors, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (news - web sites) delivered a scathing critique of U.S. high schools Saturday, calling them obsolete and saying that elected officials should be ashamed of a system that leaves millions of students unprepared for college and for technical jobs.
Gates was speaking as the invited guest of some of the nation's most powerful elected officials, at a National Governors Assn. meeting devoted to improving high school education across the country.
"Training the workforce of tomorrow with today's high schools is like trying to teach kids about today's computers on a 50-year-old mainframe," said Gates, whose $27-billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (news - web sites) has made education one of its priorities.
"Everyone who understands the importance of education, everyone who believes in equal opportunity, everyone who has been elected to uphold the obligations of public office should be ashamed that we are breaking our promises of a free education for millions of students," added Gates, to strong applause.
Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, chairman of the nonpartisan association, said high school education was in need of an overhaul to raise standards and to closely align instruction with the requirements of colleges and employers.
"It is imperative that we make reform of the American high school a national priority," Warner, a Democrat, said.
The governors' winter meeting coincides with a push by President Bush to extend elements of his No Child Left Behind initiative from the primary grades to the high school level.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
"saw this link referenced..."
I couldn't follow the link - page can't be displayed. Was it a joke?
elected officials should be ashamed of a system that leaves millions of students unprepared for college and for technical jobs.
Don’t be so hard on the administration Bill; after all, they are completely occupied by trying to keep guns, dope, and bibles out of the classrooms. Maybe if you spend a day in school you would see how many hours are spent on counseling students not to wear any clothing with messages of a religious nature, or ones that support the troops in Iraq.
Bill you obviously do not understand that while students could be learning how to spell, write, and count, teachers are indoctrinating the little ones in liberal philosophy. These children have to spend time watching Fahrenheit 911 so that they understand what is really happening in government.
we are breaking our promises of a free education for millions of students,"
Bill, Bill, you shouldn’t be so hard on the school system. After all liberal judges have mandated that millions of children of illegal aliens be entitled to a free education. So in effect the promise is being kept if only for children of illegal aliens.
It is imperative that we make reform of the American high school a national priority, Warner, a Democrat, said. First of all when you use a word like “imperative” you are discriminating against children who only speak Spanish, and in true ugly American style you are showing disrespect for their flag and their national inheritance. Putting that aside, you might consider reforming the teaching staff. Plug in a few conservatives for balance. Make sure that condoms are not being passed out to elementary school children. Allow students to form religious clubs that stress abstinence so that they can encourage each other to avoid your failed social policies. The same policies that have resulted in increased illegal drug dependence, unwanted pregnancies, and a pandemic of sexually transmitted diseases.
His wife went to a private school in Dallas.
Bill sees schools as a place to shape the "workforce of tomorrow." Christians see schools as places to prepare saints for heaven. As for me and my house...
Bill might be surprised to know that his view of schooling was shared by the Rockefellers and Carnegies, who largely shaped our existing school system.
The goals of education changed under the influence of scientific management. An 1893 report from the “Committee of Ten” stated that “the purpose of all education is to train the mind.” But, in 1911 and 1918, NEA TV reports attacked the “bookish curricula” that gave children “false ideas of culture.” Drills were a better method of learning than reading; social studies more useful than history. According to Gatto, the latter of these reports, “Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education,” now declared “that human behavior, health, and vocational training were the central goals of education. Not mental development.” Larger, centralized schools; standardized tests; students moving between classrooms for different classes; and bells signaling time to move were all products of scientific management.The large foundations (Rockefeller, Carnegie, et al.) come closest to being labeled as the evil behind the scenes. They financed and controlled education reform to such an extent that it became a matter of passionate discussion in Congress. The January 26, 1917 Congressional Record recalls the words of Senator Works of California who said, “These people ...are attempting to get control of the whole educational work of the country.”
Bingo.
Likely he will either
(a) discover an occupation he likes at lot, and perhaps someday become an entrepreneur in that business -- without a college degree;
(b) take a low-paying job like pizza delivery, get sick of it, and decide he wants to go to college after all;
or (c) stay stuck in the low-paying job rut.
Most young people with half a brain eventually do either (a) or (b), thank goodness.
One of FR's favorite and most-posted blogger/columnists, Mark Steyn, never attended college -- indeed he says he "barely made it out of high school."
The simplest solution is to put a web-cam in each public classroom, and archive each day's lessons for viewing by parents and taxpayers (and sick or disabled students).
That bit of sunlight would do much to deter the incompetence and politicking (and neglect of behavior problems).
Gates sponsored an initiative to establish Charter Schools in Washington. The teacher;s unions defeated it.
Gates's prescription might not be right, but he is right that our high schools --in their present form as indoctrination centers for the NEA and the Left-- are obsolete.
No, you get real. Engineering, comp sci, physics why would any college freshman study those 'hard' subjects when an H1-B is going to do it for 50% less. Might as well party. Seriously, the psycological effects of being overrun by a foreign invasion of cheap, educated labor has never been explored. Interesting...
Being in IT, when I think about learning new technologies, I have to factor in whether some "Dot head" is just going to come in on a 747 with an H1-B and do it for 1/2 the price, or worse the whole thing will be off-shored. So I will do what I do now (C++ programming) until that runs out and then I will find something else, I guess in a non-technical field.
Class size makes no difference. The teacher's union doesn't want you to know this.
One hundred years ago when immigrants crowded the schools in New York City and surrounding areas, classes had as many as 50 in them. Many of the students didn't yet speak English. Discipline was strict and the students were motivated.
I am sorry, but you are wrong. Class size can and does make a difference. I taught for several years, and it was much easier to teach a smaller class than a larger class. More attention can be focused on individual students. There are limits, of course, but for the most part, class size can make a difference
After three children and 18 years in the public school system, it is the parents. They are not involved, don't care about their kids and when their children get in trouble, they blame the teachers. My last child finally had to enroll in the local community college at 16, 11th grade, because the high school had run out of math classes to challenge him with. Then he quit high school, with two years left, and in two sememters he had his high school diploma and 30 college credits.
He just turned 18 and has almost two years of college. If he had stayed in the gov. school, he would probably have dropped out by now, because it is so easy and boring. All set up for the slow, ignorant students, nothing is left to challenge bright students, because parents don't want it to be too hard or their child might get bad grades.
So far every article I have read regarding the need for educational reform talks about high school. By the time our students reach high school they are already far behind the basics. It seems extremely obvious that the whole system is in need of reform from the ground up!
Sorry but the research shows "no effect" of class size on achievement. It does have a big effect on teacher satisfaction, however. I should have been more specific. And there is no question - a small class is much easier to handle than a large one, especially with today's students and their parents.
Public education will never be corrected until such a time as they alter the antiquated union system that they operate under. Otherwise, they'll just continue to throw more and more money at it with similar fixes with similar results.
Updated technology and such may be part of the issue, but the greater issue is a lack of qualified teachers, even though they're teaching, and a liberal system of education which is really tantamount to indoctrination.
Try teaching a Freshman writing class with 75 students verus the same course with 20 students. I've done both. Believe me, the latter is better for the students than the former.
What the research I've read says is that within a certain range, the number becomes rather moot, but outside that range, yes it can make a difference.
I did some of that research while working on my doctorate in education.
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