Teachers protest in downtown Seattle, say Bill Gates is ruining education
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Bill Gates has poured millions of dollars into public education reform in the U.S., and some teachers aren’t too thrilled about that.
About 150 instructors from the Badass Teacher Association marched through downtown Seattle toward the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday evening to demonstrate their disdain for the Common Core standards that have been implemented in 45 states, thanks largely to support from the Gates Foundation.
The Foundation has not only put more than $200 million toward the initiative, but also helped organize the political push necessary to implement Common Core, which recommends skills students should learn in each grade but does not set a specific curriculum — that’s up to individual states.But as detailed in thisWashington Post article from earlier this month, there’s been more and more pushback recently from both teachers and politicians on the standards. Some accuse Gates for supporting Common Core not for the benefit of students, but rather for corporate interest and to help Microsoft’s bottom line because the standards support technology and data.
That sentiment was apparent on the streets of Seattle Thursday.
“We want to get corporations out of teaching,” said Tom O’Kelley, an English teacher at Tacoma’s Oakland High School. “They are trying to turn public schools into a corporate money maker and push out the voice of teachers like we have no idea what we’re doing in Teachers protest in downtown Seattle, say Bill Gates is ruining education - GeekWire: