Bill Gates Gets Schooled
With the recent announcement by Gates that he will be changing his focus in 2008, you've got to start having more respect for the man. He's easy to vilify -- yes -- he built an empire with a single-minded fixation on his business to the detriment of innovation, leaving behind a trail of corpses belonging to competitors. He amassed billions in personal wealth -- but if he has his way, that will in no way be his legacy. With the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates is applying the same tenacity he applied to getting Microsoft to the top of the hill in fighting AIDS and malaria in the third world -- and breathing life into the US education system.
BusinessWeek has a cover article on Gates' efforts on the US education system. There isn't anything new in the effort Gates is placing on the US education system -- what is new however, is the reliance of the public education system on philanthropy. While the total dollars being contributed by private donors is vastly overshadowed by government spend, philanthropy is giving the education system a new lease on life by injecting so much needed energy, leadership and sound business practices. Of special note is effect leadership has on the education system. The education system lacks leadership. There is more government leadership investment in the military than on the education system that is preparing the future of the US. Without leadership, teachers are hardly inspired, and without inspired teachers, what can be expected of students?
What happens in the US, tends to be reflected north of the 49th, to a smaller degree -- although we eventually do catch up. We're a more socialist state, with less public reliance on private donors. Government plays an important role in our education system. Like the US, we also seriously lack leadership in the education system. We can learn a lot from the US -- about what not to do, and what we need to do more of.
Related reading:
BusinessWeek has a cover article on Gates' efforts on the US education system. There isn't anything new in the effort Gates is placing on the US education system -- what is new however, is the reliance of the public education system on philanthropy. While the total dollars being contributed by private donors is vastly overshadowed by government spend, philanthropy is giving the education system a new lease on life by injecting so much needed energy, leadership and sound business practices. Of special note is effect leadership has on the education system. The education system lacks leadership. There is more government leadership investment in the military than on the education system that is preparing the future of the US. Without leadership, teachers are hardly inspired, and without inspired teachers, what can be expected of students?
What happens in the US, tends to be reflected north of the 49th, to a smaller degree -- although we eventually do catch up. We're a more socialist state, with less public reliance on private donors. Government plays an important role in our education system. Like the US, we also seriously lack leadership in the education system. We can learn a lot from the US -- about what not to do, and what we need to do more of.
Related reading:
The Fraser Institute's research in education in Canada.
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