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Could Bill Gates Fix Our Schools?
By Donna Gundle-Krieg March 30, 2009 Note: to comment on this story or other stories about education, please go to Examiner.com
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, has a lot of great ideas on how to fix our schools.
What does one of the most successful and intelligent businessmen in the world know about education?
Well, to start, he now works full-time at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has spent about $4 billion to improve high schools since 2000, according to Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post.
The focus of the foundation is to improve the health of children and lift them out of poverty. Gates believes that improving schools is part of this.
“Within the United States, there is a big gap between people who get the chance to make the most of their talents and those who don’t,” said Gates in his annual letter to the foundation.
"Melinda and I believe that providing everyone with a great education is
the key to closing this gap.”
Gates believes that it is important to continue building successful charter school organizations, such as the Knowledge In Power Program (KIPP).
He also feels that teacher effectiveness at every school needs to be improved by measuring and rewarding the performance of teachers.
These two major reforms are supported by both President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
However, “in both cases, institutions stand in the way,” said Hiatt.
“School boards resist the expansion of charter schools. Teachers’ unions resist measuring and rewarding effectiveness.”
Hiatt says that the teachers' union has also blocked D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, who is seeking to bring these same principles to Washington schools.
Gates attended public elementary school and private Lakeside High School, both located in Seattle.
He believes that his high school made a huge difference in his life.
"The teachers fueled my interests and encouraged me to read and learn as much as I could," he remembered.
"Without those teachers I never would have gotten on the path of getting deeply engaged in math and software.”
In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive officer.
While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.
For more information, see:
Obama’s Education Reforms Show He Does Listen to Both Sides
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