Submission + - Gates Foundation Failures-Why Philanthropists Shouldn't Set Public School Agenda
theodp writes: As the U.S. entrusts tech billionaires and their fave nonprofits with K-12 Computer Science education, the Los Angeles Times looks back on some of the havoc wreaked on U.S. schools by the well-intentioned Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, citing the organization's costly failures as Exhibit A in the case against philanthropists setting public school agenda. "The mission of improving education in America is both vast and complicated," concedes Gates Foundation CEO Sue Desmond-Hellm, "and the Gates Foundation doesn’t have all the answers." Still, that isn't stopping Bill and Melinda Gates from pressing Congress "to provide funding for every student in every school to have an opportunity to learn computer science" ($4.2B is a nice start!).The LA Times concludes, "Philanthropists are not generally education experts, and even if they hire scholars and experts, public officials shouldn’t be allowing them to set the policy agenda for the nation’s public schools. The Gates experience teaches once again that educational silver bullets are in short supply and that some educational trends live only a little longer than mayflies."
