Gates Foundation responds to critical articles
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation responded on Tuesday to a package of articles published in the Chronicle of Higher Education about how much influence Bill Gates has wielded in higher education.
In a post on the Web site, Daniel Greenstein, the foundation’s director of education and post-secondary success, said that the Chronicle’s special report “missed the big picture” in its extensive special report detailing how Microsoft founder Gates has spent nearly half a billion dollars since 2006 supporting higher education initiatives. The Chronicle quoted a number of people questioning whether one private individual should wield so much power in shaping public policy to align with his goals simply because he is wealthy.
The Chronicle explains that Gates is leveraging his private money to push public higher education policy toward getting more students degrees faster through technology and what is called “competency-based learning,” which in part rewards students for what they know rather than for how many credits they take in college. Standardized testing is a big part of this vision.
Greenstein said in his post that “we welcome this level of scrutiny” and he called for a “rigorous” public conversation about the foundation’s post-secondary education
House legislation would slash education funding
A coalition of 112 national education associations and institutions representing birth to postgraduate education is protesting the section of Republican-backed legislation in the House that would slash federal education funding as part of reshaping the No Child Left Behind law. … Continue reading →