Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Edu-Gate: The Pseudo-Reformer Scandal

At some point this blog will begin to focus on the positive things we do and can do in our school system to begin the long process of meaningful reform.  But not yet... I feel the need to stem the incoming tide of detrimental reforms by first pointing them out.

Why are pseudo-reformers like Bill Gates getting involved in education?  Here is a big clue.  There is a lot of money to be made in education.  Not just by selling products, but by creating a generation of youth who are dependent on these products.  In the case of Gates, it is the Micosoft Office suite of software.

Now I use Office all the time in class.  But that has been my choice.  There are many other possibilities out there that students use effectively, such as Open Office and Google Docs.  I do not require students to use Microsoft Office to create their lab report, I just require their report to meet certain criteria.

Microsoft has pushed into schools by creating a Microsoft IT academy and North Carolina has just taken the bait, making certification in Microsoft applications available in schools throughout the state.  For $800,000, chump-change for Gates, Microsoft has just bought a captive audience – the size of North Carolina. 

Considering the Gates Foundation’s involvement in education reform, this is a major red flag.  There is a real push to privatize and corporatize public education, and for companies like Microsoft, education reform and business is the same thing. 

We need to guard the gates of public education and turn away corporate sponsors who seek to influence the course of American education.  There is a scandal going on here, folks.  I will call it Edu-Gate.  Public education should be publicly funded.  Man the guard towers!  Reclaim public education!