Dev.SN

Backlash for Gates Foundation's Education Plans

posted by mattie_p on Tuesday February 18 2014, @05:27PM   
from the corporate-sponsorship dept.

jcd writes:

"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the primary backer for the inBloom educational grading and service (which also acts as a platform for third-party applications), is catching flak for its role in encouraging the outsourcing of US Education. The article (cited by RMS today) argues that though the Common Core is a scary new concept that takes power away from state and local school governance, the real danger is allowing corporate enterprises to have so much control over our classrooms. The Washington Post also reports a case where Pearson included corporate logos and promotional materials inside its test booklets."

• Re:Convergence of Corps into Government entities Re:Convergence of Corps into Government entities (Score: 2, Interesting) by gallondr00nk on Tuesday February 18 2014, @06:44PM

  by gallondr00nk (392) on Tuesday February 18 2014, @06:44PM (#1996)

  When discretionary income of the average citizen is decreasing until there is little to no buying power from consumers left - How can corporates generate Shareholder value - how will corporates find new markets?

  Drifting off topic for a second, the answer to stagnant wages for the last thirty years has been increased household debt. In 1985, household debt was was about 40% of GDP, in 2008 it had accelerated to nearly 90%, and still hovers around that level.

  As for TFA, like No Child Left Behind, the purpose of these new standards seems to be that schools dramatically fail them. After that, little seems to be done to redress the balance. Education officials seem to not know the difference between identifying a failure and addressing it.

  Even then, they often have completely the wrong idea about how to remedy the situation. For example these schools in LA [vice.com] that are spending $1 billion on iPads when their buildings are more or less disintegrating.

  If I were being cynical, I would suggest that these initiatives are helping manufacture an education crisis, perhaps for the purpose of for-profit organisations swooping in to "improve" the failing state education system. Local government seems in such bad shape across so much of the US that it's hardly surprising that standards are low, yet somehow we miss that part and leap straight for the market solution.

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• Re:Convergence of Corps into Government entities Re:Convergence of Corps into Government entities (Score: 3, Informative) by Angry Jesus on Tuesday February 18 2014, @10:35PM

  by Angry Jesus (182) on Tuesday February 18 2014, @10:35PM (#2100)

  2008 it had accelerated to nearly 90%, and still hovers around that level.

  Down to 67% as of 2Q2013.

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/20 13/08/15/five-facts-about-household-debt-in-the-un ited-states/ [washingtonpost.com]

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  • Re:Convergence of Corps into Government entities (Score: 1) by gallondr00nk on Wednesday February 19 2014, @05:40AM

    by gallondr00nk (392) on Wednesday February 19 2014, @05:40AM (#2281)

    Down to 67% as of 2Q2013.

    Thanks for that, I didn't realise it'd gone done quite so sharply! I should google more rigorously :)

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