Schooling in the Ownership Society: Bill Gates has the blues

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Bill Gates has the blues

Bill Gates has the blues

by Mike Klonsky

Bill Gates is sober—and willing to admit some missteps. -- WSJ

In today's Wall Street Journal interview, power philanthropist Bill Gatescomplains that all of his brilliant school reform ideas have been "met with resistance" from unions and "a top-down government monopoly provider." Don't you love how Gates (who himself was found guilty of operating a monopoly) and WSJ have suddenly become anti-monopoly critics when it comes to public education?

In the interview, Gates admits that the investment he and other power philanthropists have made in corporate-style school reform, "hasn't led to significant improvements."

Actually, one of those reforms was showing significant improvement until Gates began investing in it. Gates money turned a promising small-schools movement into a charter school privatization initiative. The foundation pulled