Bill Gates Turns His Attention to Higher Education
American higher education is generally acknowledged to be the best in the world.
It offers elite colleges and universities where great thinkers and researchers have freedom to teach and study and where young people can learn from them and even work with them.
It offers great state universities where students can learn what they need or want to know about almost anything.
It offers community college where students of any age can learn almost any trade or occupation or fill in the gaps of their education.
It has a large online sector that gets poor results but offers a fast track to a degree in a degree-conscious world.
It offers elite colleges and universities where great thinkers and researchers have freedom to teach and study and where young people can learn from them and even work with them.
It offers great state universities where students can learn what they need or want to know about almost anything.
It offers community college where students of any age can learn almost any trade or occupation or fill in the gaps of their education.
It has a large online sector that gets poor results but offers a fast track to a degree in a degree-conscious world.
Some Things You Need to Know about This Blog
I wrote something the other day to the effect that anyone can reproduce whatever they want from the blog.
I write the blog to speak my mind, to open up discussion, to get people thinking, to encourage those who need encouragement, and to shine a light where it is needed into some dark corners of our public life.
A reader suggested that the blog should be part of “creative commons.”
I write the blog to speak my mind, to open up discussion, to get people thinking, to encourage those who need encouragement, and to shine a light where it is needed into some dark corners of our public life.
A reader suggested that the blog should be part of “creative commons.”
Lessons from Apple?
A reader urged me to write about this story that appeared in the New York Times about the Apple corporation. We all know that these are tough times for the economy, and many people are out of work. But Apple is a company that makes great products and is doing exceptionally well.
Apple is one of the most successful and most profitable corporations in the world. It makes beautiful products (I am working on one now). Its stores provide excellent customer service, which is a rarity in these times. I can remember the frustration of spending hours on the phone trying to get someone to help me fix my Dell. How nice to be able to have a face-to-face consultation with someone who knows how to solve your problems.
Apple is one of the most successful and most profitable corporations in the world. It makes beautiful products (I am working on one now). Its stores provide excellent customer service, which is a rarity in these times. I can remember the frustration of spending hours on the phone trying to get someone to help me fix my Dell. How nice to be able to have a face-to-face consultation with someone who knows how to solve your problems.
A Handy Guide to What Politicians Say and Do
Here is a valuable thumbnail description of the New York state policy agenda.
Review this list and you will see why politicians think and act as they do in New York state.
Do similar lists exist for other states?
Review this list and you will see why politicians think and act as they do in New York state.
Do similar lists exist for other states?
A Frightening Vision of the Future
A reader sent me a very provocative blog about the future of education by David Warlick, who has long experience in education and technology.
The blog begins with the startling statistic that six media giants control 90% of what we see, read and hear.
He goes on to ask whether the time might come when 90% of our schools are controlled by three big corporations, each with its own board of directors, completely uninterested in the views of parents and teachers.
He writes: “I have come to worry about a greater threat to the democratic foundations of education, a threat so
The blog begins with the startling statistic that six media giants control 90% of what we see, read and hear.
He goes on to ask whether the time might come when 90% of our schools are controlled by three big corporations, each with its own board of directors, completely uninterested in the views of parents and teachers.
He writes: “I have come to worry about a greater threat to the democratic foundations of education, a threat so