Um, who are Melinda and Bill Gates trying to kid?
What are Melinda and Bill Gates talking about?
In recent public statements, one or both of them have said things about their powerful role in education philanthropy that strains credulity.
Through their Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the two have poured far more money into education projects than any other individuals in the world, at least $2 billion over the past few decades. They have used their fortune to leverage public money to support pet projects and worked with the Obama administration to implement standardized-test-based policies.
Yet, in a new interview in the New York Times, Melinda Gates said she and her husband do not — repeat, do not — have “outsize influence” in public education. When reporter David Marchese said “certainly you have more influence than, say, a group of parents,” Gates replied: “Not necessarily.”
That prompted a “jaw-dropping” tweet from author and journalist Anand Giridharadas, whose latest book is “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World.” He wrote:
Jaw-dropping.@melindagates says she and her husband, spending vast sums on education, don’t have “outsize influence.” She also doubts that two billionaires seeking to transform education have any more power than a “group of parents.” True privilege is denying you have it.
Jaw-dropping.@melindagates says she and her husband, spending vast sums on education, don’t have “outsize influence.”
She also doubts that two billionaires seeking to transform education have any more power than a “group of parents.”
True privilege is denying you have it.
Now, let’s go back two months, when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual letter was published and addressed nine things the couple said surprised them along their philanthropic journey.
This was Surprise #8: “Textbooks are becoming obsolete.”
The two then discuss the issue, not actually proving that textbooks are becoming obsolete — possibly because they aren’t — but instead talking up the virtues of online education. Why would the founder of Microsoft want to tout online education?
The Gates Foundation began its first big effort in this world nearly 20 years ago with what it said was a $650 million investment to break large failing high schools into small schools, on the theory that small schools worked better than large ones. Some do, of course, and some don’t, but in any case, Bill Gates declared in 2009 it hadn’t worked the way he had hoped (with some experts saying the Gateses had ignored fundamental CONTINUE READING: Um, who are Melinda and Bill Gates trying to kid? - The Washington Post
