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Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, offered a brutal critique of the nation’s high schools a few years ago, describing them as “obsolete” and saying, “When I compare our high schools with what I see when I’m traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow.”
Said Mr. Gates: “By obsolete, I don’t just mean that they are broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean our high schools — even when they’re working as designed — cannot teach all our students what they need to know today.”
Clueless in America
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Bill Gates on U.S. high schools (the good ones, too)
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8 comments:
"I mean our high schools — even when they’re working as designed — cannot teach all our students what they need to know today.”
Does anyone know what kind of knowledge or skills he is talking about here? Perhaps he means the knowledge to get older programs to work in Vista. Are these the 21st century skills kids are supposed to know?
Seriously, what is he talking about? Has he ever endorsed specific content and skills?
Word - schools do that
PowerPoint - schools do that
Spreadsheets - schools do that
Blog - Schools do that
Google - Schools do that
Oh, you want the content to be meaningful? Oops, they don't do that.
I think he probably means serious math courses, but meanwhile he's busy supporting constructivism everywhere he goes.
I'll never forget the Oprah show where she took a tour of his High Tech High in San Diego.
There wasn't a single book in the place. The camera showed this, and Oprah asked about it. The school proudly confirmed that it had no books.
You should have seen the look on her face. "Disgust" would be the word.
"I don't think I'd do very well in this school," she said.
Oprah didn't approve.
Let's just say this guy doesn't have much sense of what "liberal education" means, or why a liberal education was directly associated with the breathtaking rate of progress in the 20th century.
I think we've got to get over the idea that schools are supposed to teach everything a student needs to know and instead realize that they should teach a student how to learn everything they need to know...And then be hungry for more.
I think he probably means serious math courses, but meanwhile he's busy supporting constructivism everywhere he goes.
I was about to comment on that, but you beat me to it.
Susans
I want a liberal education for my kid and everyone else's --- unless everyone else wants something different, in which case that's cool, too!
Point is: I know what I want for my kid and I know why I want it. I also know there are a zillion parents out there who agree.
For $22,000 annual taxes, my kid should be able to have a serious education in the liberal arts disciplines, and he should NOT be required to spend his time monkeying around with Clay-Mation software.
(Truth be told, he's probably going to miss out on the Clay-Mation software, which has just been purchased this year. We're getting out in the nick of time.)
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