Bill Gates has chimed in on high school education recently. If I
remember correctly, the foundation that he and his wife run has made
recent donations to fund high school reform, maybe even creating new, smaller high schools. Not remembering the
details right now.
Anyway, below is an excerpt from an article from the Washington Post
via the NASSP, covering a speech Gates gave at a summit of state
governors on high school education. I am interested in what Gates has
to say about high
school reform. He may have some good ideas and could certainly use his
influential position to effect real change. The thing that concerns me
is, does he really know what he is doing? He may have some real
educators involved in his efforts and a plan, or he may just be blowing
smoke. He is right that schools need to catch up with society's
progress, but what are his ideas for change? I also applaud his
philanthropy and his willingness to get behind high school education
reform. High school has long taken a back seat to elementary and middle
schools in the reform movement. I think I will investigate further to
find out Gates's intentions and his plan.
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Microsoft's Gates Urges Governors To
Restructure U.S. High Schools
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Washington
Post
February 27, 2005 - Microsoft Corp.
Chairman Bill Gates opened a two-day education summit here yesterday by telling
the nation''s governors and leaders of the educational community that the
nation''s high schools are obsolete and need radical restructuring to raise
graduation rates, prepare students for college and train a workforce that faces
growing competition in the global economy.
"Our high schools were designed 50 years
ago to meet the needs of another age," said Gates, whose philanthropic
foundation has committed nearly a billion dollars to the challenge of improving
high schools. "Until we design them to meet the needs of this century, we will
keep limiting, even ruining, the lives of millions of Americans every year." The
technology leader provided the keynote for a weekend devoted both to
highlighting the problem of dropout rates among high school students and the
schools'' failure to give students adequate preparation for college, and to
developing an agenda for action in the states.
9:40:43 PM 
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