Sunday, April 20, 2008

Bill Gates is Right About Schools

I recently read Bill Gates speech from the 2005 National Governors Association Education Summit and I must admit I completely agreed with him. Being a college drop out himself, I was pleasantly surprised to find out how passionate he is about improving the public school system. Although I am familiar with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its generosity towards schools, I was unaware of the actual programs and initiatives he has created in order to transform the school system. Unlike the majority of charitable public figures, who just give money and supplies to schools, Gates goes above and beyond and has dedicated time and money to researching every intricate detail of the public school system. Based on his findings, he has created special initiatives and become an activist for equal and better public education. I was delighted to hear him say, "The key problem is political will," when discussing the public schools resistance to change and also that it is, “Morally wrong to offer more advanced levels of coursework to high-income students compared with that offered many minority and low-income scholars.” Now as much as I applaud him for bringing this up, especially considering it goes against the stereotypical view of people with wealth and power being spoiled and insensitive to the lower class, I was saddened to find out his own children go to a small private school. At first I was extremely irritated, especially since only a few minutes prior to my findings, I had considered Bill Gates an inspiration, a glimpse of hope in a seemingly failing system, where people talk big, but barely ever deliver results. After I really considered the situation, I no longer blamed him for preaching about equal opportunity and then sending his own kids to private schools; personally I would probably do the same, although I’m not sure that makes it right. This is when I too faced a dilemma and wondered how are we going to achieve equal opportunity in education when the people that have the ability to make it happen and want it to happen are unwilling to actually send their own children to public schools, or is it even possible in the first place? This is when I realized that until all Americans have faith in the public school system and believe that a form of equal opportunity is conceivable, the achievement gap will continue to grow. Of course, the public schools must also be completely revamped and reorganized in a way that actually produces intelligent graduates, who are motivated to learn. Basically, every component of the school system must be changed, including the curriculum, the grading system, the teachers, the rules, and just about everything else, in order for there to be any chance of saving our schools. The actual changes are not going to be black and white, or at all simple, instead the transformation will require in-depth consideration and participation in the community.

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