Bill Gates Questions Traditional Education Policies
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Former Microsoft chairman Bill Gates joined Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, for a symposium examining America's school systems at this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, reports The Wall Street Journal.
"The education system is built on the three pillars of mediocrity: lockstep pay, lifetime tenure and seniority," was Joel Klein's assessment at this year's Festival."
While the United States spends the most money per student of any country worldwide ($11,000 annually), American students lag behind students in most developed countries in measures of reading, math, and science.
"Undermining public education, said Gates, is a system that channels too much money to pensions for retired teachers. He predicts that state and local governments will have to lay off 100,000 active teachers in the next couple of years. "I'm very much against that," said Mr. Gates who noted that many of the teachers who lose their jobs will be younger, more motivated teachers at the bottom of the seniority system."
The Gates Foundation has been supportive of alternatives to traditional public education, including funding charter school initiatives.
(Photo credit: Kees de Vos; C.C. 2.0)
