CAT Tracks for July 24, 2009 THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

SPEAKS...again and again and again.

Actually, with his gobillions of dollars, I guess Bill Gates would best be described as the 600 pound gorilla.

Well, whatever, Mr. G...

Mr. G, because of his Microsoft millions and billions, yea trillions, has instant access to a national soapbox whenever and wherever he takes a mind. Mr. G has instant (unearned and unproven) credibility as an "education expert" because of his fame and fortune. I mean, if a successful businessman, speaks...we must listen...and obey.

Right?

Just like every other celebrity...right?

It's a shame that Elvis and Michael Jackson have passed. The King and the King of Pop could have surely shed light on a few cures for education.

Missed opportunity...

BUT, it's not too late for Britney Spears. Surely she would like to enlighten us and advise us on morality and the good life? Hey, A-Rod...what do YOU think about the latest medical advances? I mean, these folks made BIG BUCKS in their respective fields. Ergo, they MUST know everything about everything...RIGHT?!

Personally, methinks Mr. G would be best served spending more time over at Microsoft where his latest vision (aka Vista) proved to be a major embarrassment. Uh, Mr. G...I don't want to get personal, but have you heard any of the jokes about Microsoft and its never-ending supply of bugs?

Mr. G, while spending your retirement sharing your personal views on "the ills of public schools", have you been keeping up with the challengers in your REAL area of expertise? The (non-edible) big Macs from (non-edible) Apple (which is actually the "cream of the crop" for a multitude of computer geeks?) Have you taken a Safari and checked out Linux, or Firefox, or ... ?

If you have been too busy bashing public schools to notice...the above "challengers" are like the "charter schools" of computer land...offering alternatives to the bloated monster Microsoft with all of its inherent ills...with its reluctance to change its ways despite over-whelming criticism.

Yes, these new "charters" are small - they're not the Jolly Gates Giant - but, many see them as a fresh alternative...seductively appealing to the new generation!

New and fresh is ALWAYS better...right, Mr. G!

If you haven't been keeping up on the latest in your field, Mr. G...maybe you could check it out on another "Big G"...something called Google. Oh, yeah...left them off my list. Google has its own Chrome-plated challenger to your Internet Explorer empire. (Hmmm...IE...wasn't there something in the news "back in the day"...headlines about lawsuits...hearings before Congress...something about YOUR Microsoft...something about breaking the law in establishing a monopoly by forcing computer makers to carry your browser ONLY...making it uninstallable?)

Of course, you had enough money to make all those silly accusations go away. After all, you are Mister G...the Big Gorilla...he who knows all...about everything.

Sarcasm aside (but never for long)...

Mr. Gates...did you catch the article that was reproduced on CAT Tracks this past June 1st...the article about the "School of the Future" in Philadelphia...the school that YOU built with some of your millions so that people would not have to subject their precious children to the bloated monster called Microsoft??? (Oops, I'm sorry Mr. G...had a little trouble shifting gears there...we HAD been talking computers. Of course, I meant the bloated monster called public education...)

It seems that YOUR PERSONAL SCHOOL is NOT receiving rave reviews...far from it in fact. And, the ultimate irony - the biggest failure undermining the mission of the school - they can't get the computers/the Internet to work on a regular basis! Gotta luv it, Mr. G!

So...

Mr. G (Gates, Gorilla, or Whomever)...why don't you climb down from your soapbox, wander back over to Microsoft, and take care of a business in which you actually have some demonstrated expertise?

How about bashing your jaded computer folks instead of bashing public school employees?? (I mean...Microsoft employees do not have that evil thing called tenure...and surely you did not allow them to have a dreaded union. So, you can fire their butts...right?)

How about going back to something you actually know about (knew about?) and leave public education in the hands of people who actually know something about it???

I'm just sayin', DAWG!

Microsoft co-founder said education is the field that has changed the least with technology

From staff and wire reports

Primary Topic Channel: Global competitiveness

Bill Gates has been a staunch supporter of U.S. education reform.The U.S. must improve its educational standing in the world by rewarding effective teaching and by developing better, universal measures of performance for students and teachers, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said on July 21.

Speaking at the National Conference of State Legislatures' annual legislative summit, Gates told hundreds of lawmakers how federal stimulus money should be used to spark educational innovation, spread best practices, and improve accountability.

Gates has been a longtime critic of American public schools and has used philanthropy to advocate for a better educational system.

U.S. schools lag behind their international counterparts because of "old beliefs and bad habits," and it's not clear how to get them back on track without uniform achievement standards, he said.

"We don't know the answers, because we're not even asking the right questions and making the right measurements," Gates said.

He urged legislators to ask colleges and universities in their districts to publish their graduation rates. The institutions should be rewarded with funding based on the number of degrees granted, not just students enrolled, Gates said.

Teachers, too, should be rewarded for effectiveness and not just for seniority and master's degrees, he said.

Gates suggested that developing data to identify the best instructors should be a priority for legislators, even in a tight economy. Better teachers are more likely to result in higher achievement than other approaches such as lowering class size, he said.

"The way I see forward is to use measurement to drive quality," Gates said.

The Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spent nearly $4 billion between 2000 and 2008 to improve America's high schools and award scholarships, primarily to low-income and minority students.

Its aim is to increase the U.S. graduation rate from about 70 percent to 80 percent and to double the number of low-income adults who get a degree or certificate beyond high school by age 26.

Gates, 51, talked of the importance of improving the quality, quantity, and searchability of online lectures, which he noted his own children have used.

Community colleges and other financially strapped schools might find online lectures to be the most cost-effective way to teach introductory courses such as Physics 101, Gates said. The savings could then be spent on student-oriented discussions and lab sessions.

"The world of education is the sector of the economy so far the least changed by technology," Gates said. "Ten years from now, that won't be the case, and these online lectures are the cutting edge of that."

Kentucky state Rep. Kent Stevens, a retired principal who spent nearly 28 years in education, said after Gates' speech that public school teachers do a good job with the vast mission they've been given.

"We have to provide an appropriate education to anybody that walks through the door," said Stevens, a Democrat from Lawrenceburg, Ky. "That's a wide variety."