Bill Gates Speech to National Education Summit: "I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow."

GatesFoundation.org ^ | 2/26/05 | Bill Gates

[baseball_fan]

...America’s high schools are obsolete.

By obsolete, I don’t just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed, and under-funded…

By obsolete, I mean that our high schools – even when they’re working exactly as designed – cannot teach our kids what they need to know today.

…

Today, only one-third of our students graduate from high school ready for college, work, and citizenship.

The other two-thirds…are tracked into courses that won’t ever get them ready for college or prepare them for a family-wage job – no matter how well the students learn or the teachers teach.

This isn’t an accident or a flaw in the system; it is the system.

…

When I compare our high schools to what I see when I’m traveling abroad, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow. In math and science …

By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations.

… the U.S. college dropout rate is also one of the highest in the industrialized world. …

… In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor’s degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many...in engineering.

…

… The key problem is political will. Elected officials have not yet done away with the idea underlying the old design. The idea behind the old design was that you could train an adequate workforce by sending only a third of your kids to college – and that the other kids either couldn’t do college work or didn’t need to. The idea behind the new design is that all students can do rigorous work, and – for their sake and ours – they have to.

...

[malia]

bttt

[liberty2004]

Step up to the plate Mr. Gates and use your billions to fund the under-funded schools. That should solve the problem.

A thousand time's Gate money would do nothing to improve the schools. Public education is a cancer on the mind. The public schools exists for the main purpose of making obedient citizens, not critical thinkers. The public schools are working as intended. If Gates had any true insight in this matter who would bluntly point out that "education is far to important to leave in the hands of government beaurcates. The fact he doesn't recognige this is because he is a liberal and can't see that government is THE problem. I am a big fan of President Bush, but the fact he greatly increased the Dept of Education budget shows he is blind on this matter too. It is a sin against our children that leaders can't speak the truth about education. It is disgusting.

[baseball_fan]

"Step up to the plate Mr. Gates and use your billions to fund the under-funded schools. That should solve the problem."

I saw this in looking for the text of the speech after seeing it on C-SPAN:

"To address the problem, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said it would give 15 million US dollars to the National Governors Association, to be disbursed to states that take significant steps to improve their high schools. The Gates foundation said it had invested 733 million dollars in more than 1,500 high schools - about 8 percent of all public high schools - in the past five years."

source: http://english1.people.com.cn/200502/28/eng20050228_174927.html

[goodnesswins]

I stopped reading his "speech" when he said the schools "needed more money."

I would have been VERY happy if he had talked about DISCIPLINE in learning....but I guess that's too much to ask!

[Tribune7]

ping

[jz638]

There are so many classes I took that had and have no use whatsoever.

Then again Algebra has shown up far too often in my life for me to think it was all for naught. Darned teachers were right.

Personally, I think Mr. Gates has had this plan ever since the second wedgie of his freshman year: "They'll see... someday I'll be so rich that I'll close down high school. Wait, I'll get so rich that I'll close down all the high schools. Then the smart kids will be free!"

Lesson learned, beware the power of a determined nerd.

[Darkwolf377]

Thank you both. I don't hear much about this and as you know the MSM sure as heck doesn't report on it, unless someone who's homeschooled is involved in a crime. Balanced coverage, and all.

[ValerieUSA]

I am terrified for citizens of a free nation who allow themselves to be called "our workforce" as if they were slaves to a communist system.

[politicket]

Yes I was one of those that passed with D's due to boredom and went back to school after I grew up.

I own my own business and the absolute BEST subcontractors that I have found are those that were high school dropouts. Many are very intelligent. They all have a common story....they were bored to tears because NOTHING was expected of them...and they met the challenge.

[Goodgirlinred]

He is right about the high schools. I hope that his message was taken to heart and that his suggestions will be implemented. Education is the key to our economic problems as well as many of society's problems.

[goodnesswins]

YES, what YOU said......students today, in many cases, are BORED....that's WHAT the problem is.....making them do PC cr*p creates bored kids who lose their motivation to learn. Nothing better (for some) than the school of hard knocks....especially if the student has been schooled in MOTIVATION (which CAN be taught, IMHO.)

[Nick Danger]

In math and science... By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations... China graduates twice as many students with bachelor’s degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many...in engineering.

But Bill, we have to dumb down math and science to keep boys from getting ahead of girls in anything. It's all about equality. So what if the Chinese end up with six times as many engineers; we'll beat them with lawyers. Women lawyers.

[liberty2004]

I would have been VERY happy if he had talked about DISCIPLINE in learning.

The ONLY solution to the schooling problem is to removing it COMPLETELY from government. Anything short of that will never work. Education is a service and anyone who thinks government bureaucrats and create an adequate system is delusional. Yes, there are a few cases where public schools "work" but in time the government leaders will make sure they are dumbed down too. The solution is simple, the political will to accomplish it is....

[FactsMatter]

But Bill Gates doesn't want to hire your home schooled kids, he would rather have the workforce in China or India. Just looks at all the remarks he has made about china in the past year.

Your kids would want too much money.

[goodnesswins]

"Education" is the key, WHEN the goal is teaching students to think and analyze, and write and compute.....PC'ing them to death kills that, however. AND, furthermore, it does NOT take MORE money for education.....

[politicket]

I don't hear much about this and as you know the MSM sure as heck doesn't report on it, unless someone who's homeschooled is involved in a crime. Balanced coverage, and all.

LOL!! Ain't that the truth! (Sorry for the bad grammar, but I was PUBLIKLEE EDIAKATUD).

My Senior year requirements in High School consisted of gym class. All other requirements had been met by the end of my Junior year. There was PLENTY of time to get into trouble however...

[Seattle Conservative]

"Maybe Prince Billy can use some of his untold billions to help fix the problem, rather than just running off at the mouth."

Bill Gates & his wife donate a lot of money to various causes - you might want to check out the donations the Gates foundation has provided to education
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Education/TransformingHighSchools/Grants/default.htm?showYear=2004

IMHO there's a lot more that needs to be done w schools and education instead of just throwing more $s.

[BradyLS]

Forty-six young men preparing to take a military school entrance exam were caught trying to cheat using mobile phones taped to their bodies and hidden in their shoes and underwear, an army official said Monday.

Not that I agree with the sentiment, but I had an old squad leader who often told me: "If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin." I never asked him to explain it. (Wouldn't mind if somebody would, though.)

[FactsMatter]

Very large portions of that money are in donations of Microsoft Software that are valued at the Full MSRP. IOW, they value a copy of Windows XP at $299 to $2000 and CALs at $59-$199. It isn't real dollars.

[politicket]

But Bill Gates doesn't want to hire your home schooled kids, he would rather have the workforce in China or India.

My homeschooled kids aren't being trained to work for Bill Gates. They are being trained to be Christian leaders that have their own businesses and are involved in their civic responsibilities.