Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Offer Orthopedic Shoes to Failing Public School Teachers

[teacher gal]

For Immediate Release
Washington, D.C.

Gates Foundation & DOE to Fund High-Performing Footwear Initiative


Whenever edu-philanthropreneur Bill Gates gets down and out about the state of public education, the severe economic downturn we are all are experiencing, and the staggering inequalities incurred on the nation by poorly performing public school teachers, he visits some exceptional schools to lift his spirits. On a visit to a KIPP school in Houston, Gates witnessed an "unbelievable thing" about its teachers, a phenomenon apparently unheard of in traditional public schools.

Now, there are a few places -- very few -- where great teachers are being made. A good example of one is a set of charter schools called KIPP. KIPP means Knowledge Is Power. It's an unbelievable thing. When you actually go and sit in one of these classrooms, at first it's very bizarre. I sat down and I thought, "What is going on?" The teacher was running around, and the energy level was high. I thought, "I'm in the sports rally or something. What's going on?" And the teacher was constantly scanning to see which kids weren't paying attention, which kids were bored, and calling kids rapidly, putting things up on the board.

Go to the following URL for the rest of the story because it has lots of hyperlinks that I don't know (or remember) how to manage on DU:

http://aplacetorespond.blogspot.com/2009/09/bill-melinda-gates-foundation-to-offer.html

[sandnsea]

1. "--news spoof brought to you by staff at This Little Blog" n/t

[provis99]

2. Bill Gates writes like he smokes pot and reads Alvin Toffler.

just spend your time fixing Windows, Bill, and leave the societal thinking to people who live on this plane of existence.

[teacher gal]

3. I forgot to mention

that most of the Bill Gates quotes in this spoof are authentic quotes from a talk he gave, as you can read at the following link, where our nation's public school teachers were paired with malaria for his stunning pronouncements. If I recall, this talk was one of those 'thousand dollar a plate' events that elites attend.

http://blog.ted.com/2009/02/bill_gates_talk.php

Hope I didn't offend anyone. School teachers want reform too, but reforms that expand opportunities for success rather than narrow them to one-size-fits-all.

Bill Gates may mean well, but I think his ignorance is only exceeded by his arrogance when it comes to the so-called "failure" of our public schools.

[joeycola]

4. --news spoof brought to you by staff at This Little Blog

[Hannah Bell]

5. with real bill g. quotes.

[LWolf]

6. What a great example of privatization at it's best.

Here's some observations about one KIPP school:

<snip>

KIPP Ascend School on the West Side is taxpayer funded and serves fifth through eighth grades. The application is simple, yet the KIPP Web site is vague about the selection process. KIPP can accept whom it wants and place conditions on enrollment without making those conditions public. As a result, its student body is academically homogeneous, which KIPP acknowledges. It's easier to teach homogeneously skilled students than it is to teach a heterogeneously skilled group. This is the first benefit of a KIPP school, difficult to replicate in Oak Park.

The second benefit KIPP has over the Oak Park schools is its ability to kick students out of school for a variety of behavioral and academic infractions. "Removal from the school" is the phrasing in the behavior contract all students and parents must sign upon enrollment. A student can also be removed if the parent does not fulfill the parental duties listed in the contract. School personnel in districts 97 and 200 would probably love the power to hold parents accountable for children arriving at school sleepy, ill fed, disrespectful or with unfinished homework. In a public school district, we have to assume parents are living up to their responsibilities. There is no contract holding them to their basic parental duties. A student cannot be legally denied an education simply because his or her parents are apathetic.

KIPP's ability to remove students from school who fail to learn academic behaviors and skills is one of the reasons for its success. Motivated parents who want their child to succeed will ensure that the family does what KIPP expects. Public schools in Oak Park have a mission to educate every child, whether the parent or child is motivated or not. As educators, our biggest problem is not a low-skilled student but rather a student who is neither intrinsically nor extrinsically motivated.

http://www.wednesdayjournalonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=15219&TM=82891.36

[teacher gal]

7. lack of support for public education

I have known that generally speaking, there is a lack of support on DU for teachers and public education except among fellow teachers and a few other people. Several of you have pointed this out to me from time to time. And I admit the 'unrecs' to posts speaking out on behalf of public schools sting a little bit. Just some thoughts about possible reasons for the hostility:

1). There are those who have some genuinely bad memories of experiences in the public schools. And yes, there are some poor teachers. I'd say roughly 5-10 percent. My experience is that most teachers who find they can't hack it or tolerate the unrealistic demands placed upon our schools get out of the profession on their own.

2). Decades of anti-public school propaganda (and the demonization of teachers' unions), skewed and distorted statistics, and in some cases outright lies have been quite successful. As Gallup polls show year after year, people think their own local public school is fine but have a perception that nationally, public schools basically suck. As independent researcher Gerald Bracey has noted, public education can't even BUY any fair and balanced coverage. Coverage is reduced to "the neurotic need to believe the very worst about our public schools." "If it bleeds, it leads." Deep and critical reporting abut education is virtually non-existent. Good news just does not sell.

3). These are hard times. Many people have lost jobs, lost health insurance, etc. while most teachers still have their jobs and benefits. There is resentment for this. But, as Richard Gibboney notes (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6952/is_1_90/ai_n28580789/?tag=content;col1), "Teachers don't cause financial meltdowns, home foreclosures, climate change, or hurricanes. And they don't invade countries or outsource jobs. Teachers don't cause mind-numbing conditions of poverty that limit children's ability to learn. However, teachers are the ones asked to cope with the poisonous effects of poverty. Why? Because most of society doesn't give a damn." As for our corporate/politicos, it is far easier and far more profitable to continue to scapegoat schools and teachers rather than directly confront poverty and societal ills.

4). There are many who simply resent the very idea of public education for democracy and the common good. They don't want to pay taxes for "those other children". Many don't stop to consider that in the long run, the horrific cost of not providing universal 'free' public education is far greater. Consider the incarceration rates.

5). There are of course legitimate complaints against public education. Yet many (not all) of the things that drive people up the wall about our schools are the result of policies IMPOSED on our schools by politicians who are prostituting themselves to the corporate interests who buy, engineer, and drive policy. There has been no greater supporter of NCLB than Big Business. And no one has profited so greatly from it.

6). To illustrate number 5, the same politicians now ridiculing our schools about the dropout rates impose policies which disengage and drive the most disadvantaged kids right out of school. We know, and research demonstrates, that standardization and the maniacal testing mandates being imposed on our schools are driving up the dropout rates.

7). Ed reform has been designed to undermine support for public education rather than strengthen and improve it. It's working very well. And I'd argue that it is not a government of the people, by the people, and for the people that is doing this. It is a government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations.

8) It sounds like I'm making lots of excuses. It is not the case that all of our problems are created by others. Sometimes we do indeed fail but that is no reason to dismantle our entire system of public education. Public education is on the brink of destruction and the nation is standing by and letting it happen.

Just some thoughts, I could go on. This has been hurriedly posted.

[noamnety]

8. None of that is the reason for the unrec's here.

I've neither rec'd nor unrec'd this thread - but it's fairly obvious to me it's been unrecommended not because of support or lack of support for public schools, but because you presented this as a real story, and it's not true.

(I wish it were true! I had a couple months last year with plantar fasciitis and it did keep me grounded in a chair instead of hopping around the classroom - and I had to pay for orthopedic shoes. Even Whole Foods includes an employee perk of an annual budget for foot-friendly shoes.)

[teacher gal]

9. Hi noamnety. I did not intend to

present this post as a real story, though I can see your point.

First, it seemed to me it would be obvious that the post was satire... but then again, satire is almost impossible in the realm of public education reform.

Secondly, the post takes you directly to my blog where it is identified as a "spoof".

Still, I'd say I did fudge a bit here so you are probably absolutely right about the 'unrecs'. Thank you for pointing this out to me. It certainly wasn't my intention to deceive but I'd say I'll be less careless in the future.

As for orthopedic shoes - I rather like some of them because they are so comfortable and I have incredibly high arches. If Bill Gates offered me a pair......nah!!

[noamnety]

10. Ah, I didn't realize it was your blog.

I thought you might have linked it without having read the last line. A lot of people here will read what you quote without following the link and reading the rest of the article. I'll admit to having done that once or twice myself, though. :)

While I'm in confession mode, there've been times where I would have accepted free shoes from Cheney if they made my feet stop hurting.

BILL GATES - SEND ME MY FREE SHOES!!!

[teacher gal]

11. Ha...

"I didn't realize it was your blog."

Another case of my not making myself clear.

I blog mostly for my own amusement and to provide relief from the attacks on public education. And occasionally to try to make a point through humor. Bill Gates, simply by virtue of his enormous wealth, is largely driving the administration's ed reform proposals, many of which have no research base whatsoever to support them (merit pay based on standardized test scores, national standards, and the denial of desperately needed funds from states which refuse to lift charter caps). All this despite research showing that only 17% of charter schools outperform traditional public schools, with all the rest doing worse or no better. It's almost like bribery or extortion. The evidence doesn't even matter. It's profoundly disturbing, profoundly undemocratic, and opening the door to privatization yet further. And then there is all the damaging rhetoric, deceptive framing, etc. which never ends.

P.S. I wish you lots of comfy shoes and relief from the foot pain.