Gates' Excuse for Poor Results of Educational Technology: "Unmotivated Students"
I have written a great deal about the Gates Foundation's role in education reform over the past several years. They have been a focus because no other entity has had such a wide-ranging impact on the institution of public education. In fact, by the end of the summer, I will publish a book entitled The Educator and the Oligarch, which will pull together much of my work related to the Gates Foundation.
4 more articles But recent comments he has made suggest he may be starting to see that even technology may not be all powerful. And this leads to some deeper questions about the viability of the entire education reform project. In Lyndsey Layton's recent interview, Gates had this to say:
Well, technology in the classroom doesn't have some stellar record up until now. ...technology has to deal with the fact that neither technology nor anything else has changed mass achievement in this country up till now. So, whatever reform, technology or otherwise, comes along, it's good to be skeptical because even as we have intensified resources going against education very substantially, we haven't moved achievement.(the challenge is) ... to take these tools into the inner city where you have kids who don't think math is relevant to them and sitting there, paying attention. And we haven't done a good job of making that what they want to do.
Gates' recent comments in Los Alamos suggest where he places the blame.
New technology to engage students holds some promise, but Gates says it tends to only benefit those who are motivated."And the one thing we have a lot of in the United States is unmotivated students," Gates said.
A new report from researchers Susan Neuman and Donna Celano reinforces the idea that Gates' Excuse for Poor Results of Educational Technology: "Unmotivated Students" - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: