Thank you, but all this time supposedly I’ve been the “idiot, angry fool” raging against the machine. And how dare I decide to homeschool one of my children?! How dare I consider homeschooling my other children as well?! =/
This coming from the father who taught me to see with my own eyes, to think with a critical mind, and to decide for myself. Apparently that only applies when it is in alignment with what he thinks best. Right…. sorry, it appears I have learned your lessons too well and I have been watching this mess unfold for too long….
I’m tired of fighting with the schools. I’m tired of raging against the system that never should exist in the first place. Most of all, I’m tired of watching my children being broken for the all mighty dollar.
As Written by Denis Ian:
The saga of Bill Gates has the hollow repetition of failures who preceded him. And that’s the truth.
How was he any more qualified to bully his way into the national education spotlight than he would be taking over as coach of an NFL team? Why didn’t he lead the charge on infrastructure rejuvenation … you know, updating bridges and airports and roads and dams and water systems? Did he feel under-qualified? I guess so … BUT … he felt very qualified to barge into the realm of education. And he did it with such certainty. How come? Who whispered in his ear that he was the pedagogical messiah? And why did he believe it?
Gates was seduced by his own narrow brilliance … and was narcissused into believing that his technological IQ had purchase in the world of teaching and learning. It didn’t. Others know this … that one’s genius is almost mostly narrow … unless you happen to be that DaVincii guy … then all bets are off. Gates is no DaVinci.
It’s amusing that he found curing diseases easier than reforming education. Diseases are easy targets … have the right science at hand and you’ve got path to success.
Education is a splendid disease for those who’ve spent a lifetime polishing their craft and reforming their own philosophies to suit the always changing circumstances. Teaching is an endeavor with built-in surprises and in constant search of a positive reaction to changes as they appear. If you’re not nimble …. you’re doomed. Gates was too married to his thesis.
Bill Gates was doomed. He was self-seduced into luscious deliriums with expected Eden-like outcomes. An educational nirvana where all successful learning was a sweet algorithm away.
But his most serious sin … his greatest stumble … was that he ignored the foot-soldiers of education. He blew off the master teachers … and threw his hat in with classroom-allergic theoreticians and calculating entrepreneurs who contorted his dream into a mess. And what we have here is a major reform failure. A magnificent mess.
So, what have we learned? Perhaps a lesson worth remembering …
Never assume another person’s mastery is a simple matter. It’s the surest way to make an ass of yourself.
As Written by Michelle Moore:
It was touted to boardroom investors; the untapped market of education was a boon to the tune of 5.5 trillions in returns, with little investment and it was a market that was already supported with federal tax payer money stream. All they needed was the magic algorithm to train “human capital” aka children into profits and develop a ready made workforce (another profitable investment; to create the business’ and fill the widget needs in anticipation of a collective society) Plenty of market share for DATA collectors, platform designers, number crunchers and venture capitalists to profit. Get the two largest teachers unions elite upper echelon to buy in and collectively push a monstrous Bill to reauthorize NCLB (a law that had expired 7 years earlier) Pass it into LAW. We now have ESSA. Every Student Succeeds Act. Federal Nationalized Standards. Unconstitutional but the caveat is the States “voluntarily” signed on via Race to the Top. Nefarious and brilliant!! Timing is everything. The Great Recession was upon us, a new President. Offer 4.3 Billion as a carrot. States signed up for their fair share and systemically destroyed public education all for a few bucks. Most districts get 3-8% in federal funds and Feds mandate 100%. Gates is no fool. He put in seed money. He and Unions working collectively to usher in the largest assault in history. Follow the money you’ll never go wrong.
The reference article:
The Media Still Doesn’t Grasp Problems with Bill Gates Control of Ed Policy
Your blog is interestingly written from the perspective of the ones who suffer from clear structural violence of the system. We… the world leaders have sacrificed education and care on the altar of materialism. The unrealized potential in each of us is getting even more difficult to grasp with the election result. That is a true tragedy. I think it will make us sick and blind in ways that go beyond our understanding. But I also believe that our civilization is ever advancing, and that we are meant to take a step back so that we learn to take two forward 🙂
My fear is that we won’t learn soon enough. The Holocaust was a frightening tragedy that should never be repeated in any form. It saddens me to know that we made tremendous advancements in medicine and psychology because of it. No, people are not being locked away in concentration camps today but we are continuing to push forward with programs and systems in the name of science that have yet to be proven. On children. We’re expected to shut up and sit down and just let this happen to our children. Meanwhile the rate of mental illness in children continues to climb with no end in sight. And when we finally realize as a whole that we were wrong, how do we apologize for that? How do you say you’re sorry for breaking someone’s mind? You can’t. What difference does it make that we can move forward from there if we are leaving behind the people that we broke?
I share your fears and views. And your questions are really important. I think you are right, that everybody should count and be equally important. Science itself doesn’t advance human behavior or guide to make decision that serve everybody. Without the right values science is like a Frankenstein’s monster gone wild. Experiments that fail. Like materialism which is a system where the rich get more rich on the backs of the broken. I see the world and systems are getting more transparent each year. It’s good for morality. Morality goes forward only with small steps, but when they’re fast-paced, it leads to something good eventually. I’m not sure if these thoughts make sense, but I feel your frustration. But sometimes with people you have to do what you clearly do well-ask the right questions. And make people think.
Thank you. I think I was born with questions. At least that’s what my mother tells me. 😉