Bill Gates Speech to National Education Summit: "I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow."

GatesFoundation.org ^ | 2/26/05 | Bill Gates

[baseball_fan]

...America’s high schools are obsolete.

By obsolete, I don’t just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed, and under-funded…

By obsolete, I mean that our high schools – even when they’re working exactly as designed – cannot teach our kids what they need to know today.

…

Today, only one-third of our students graduate from high school ready for college, work, and citizenship.

The other two-thirds…are tracked into courses that won’t ever get them ready for college or prepare them for a family-wage job – no matter how well the students learn or the teachers teach.

This isn’t an accident or a flaw in the system; it is the system.

…

When I compare our high schools to what I see when I’m traveling abroad, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow. In math and science …

By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations.

… the U.S. college dropout rate is also one of the highest in the industrialized world. …

… In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor’s degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many...in engineering.

…

… The key problem is political will. Elected officials have not yet done away with the idea underlying the old design. The idea behind the old design was that you could train an adequate workforce by sending only a third of your kids to college – and that the other kids either couldn’t do college work or didn’t need to. The idea behind the new design is that all students can do rigorous work, and – for their sake and ours – they have to.

...

[baseball_fan]

"Our high schools were designed fifty years ago to meet the needs of another age."

[politicket]

Bill Gates needs to know that homeschoolers are teaching the leaders of tomorrow. We talk about the "Old Media" on FreeRepublic. Perhaps we should talk about the "Old Schools" as well. They are a Socialistic experiment that failed miserably.

[Waco]

All going per the liberals plan, keep suckin Bill. You idiot.

[Darkwolf377]

Are their any data on the success of homeschooling in terms of going on to college or entering the jobforce?

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

I've always thought we need to get rid of non-essenital classes (elective course, PE). I mean I really use my woodworking class a lot and PE.....wow where would I be without it /sarcasm. We are not preparing our children, we are too busy having "pc classes" to teach our children to be tolerant.

[KoRn]

"China graduates twice as many students with bachelor’s degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many...in engineering."

That isn't surprising, considering their population compared to ours. He is correct that our education system does almost nothing to prepare students for a career. Hell, to a large extent I don't think college even prepares the students for the career they are there for.

[jeremiah]

What country are the best students from India attending? American colleges? The problem is, get the monopoly out of education. Give vouchers to parents, let them choose the schools their children attend. Of course what does Bill Gates know about momopolies.........I mean does he know they are bad?

[Golden Eagle]

Well Bill, if you're so concerned about our schools, why don't you start contributing more of your billions to them, instead of to all the other issues in other foreign countries?

Reform in America's schools is a practical impossibility, thanks to the Teacher's Union. My mother was still teaching back 20 years ago, and when she refused to join their union, they went about doing everything they could to get her fired. They never succeeded, she ended up quiting first, but not because of them trying to get her fired, but because the paddle was taken out her hand.

[twas]

Step up to the plate Mr. Gates and use your billions to fund the under-funded schools.

That should solve the problem.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Another foreign system...I guess Bill doesn't visit Thailand
BANGKOK, Thailand - Forty-six young men preparing to take a military school entrance exam were caught trying to cheat using mobile phones taped to their bodies and hidden in their shoes and underwear, an army official said Monday.

hee hee

[rdl6989]

I mean I really use my woodworking class a lot and PE.

There are so many classes I took that had and have no use whatsoever.

[clee1]

Exactly right.

Maybe Prince Billy can use some of his untold billions to help fix the problem, rather than just running off at the mouth.

[clee1]

go to www.homeschooling.org

They have some studies.

[Jeff Gordon Fan]

well people would be fat and where could the athletes get their A's? hahah...

As a 2004 graduate, there are the achievers and then there are those who just sleep in class and pass with D's. I could of graduated with Algebra 2 as my last math course. I took that sophomore year.... I just don't know... On the other hand.. My girlfriend that goes to a private school in NJ is kicking my butt and taking a heck of a lot more college level courses than me. So I felt kind of screwed even though i went to Fairfax County Public Schools

[politicket]

Sure...go to www.hslda.org

[Terpfen]

Still waiting for Mr. Gates to stop donating large amounts of cash to the party responsible for the high school educations Mr. Gates doesn't like.

[Brett66]

I am terrified of Bill's OS of tommorrow......

[GSlob]

Even Bill Gates' net worth cannot prevail against the laws of nature.
If one accepts "Bell Curve" analysis with 'college material' IQ cutoff about 110, then even with massive dumbing down one could not drive it below , say, 105 (nor should one try, but this is another story).
This by definition would leave >50% of population (50% with IQs below 100) as unfit for college and as essentially ineducable at advanced levels. Better approach would be to focus the education of those who could benefit from it into more productive channels and stop wasting their time on PC baboonery of all kinds.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Yes I was one of those that passed with D's due to boredom and went back to school after I grew up. I believe that vouchers are the answer to the problem. I live in Washington State and my daughter is doing fairly well, BUT I supplement her public school education with additional home schooling.

[politicket]

Well Bill, if you're so concerned about our schools, why don't you start contributing more of your billions to them, instead of to all the other issues in other foreign countries?

Schools have PLENTY of money through our property taxes. Our county spends about $4,500 per student per year. The largest problem is the Socialistic nature of the National Education Association (NEA).