"
(Bill) Gates has said that one of the benefits of common standards would be to
open the classroom to digital learning, making it easier for software
developers — including Microsoft — to develop new products for the country’s
15,000 school districts.
In
February, Microsoft announced that it was joining Pearson, the world’s largest
educational publisher, to load Pearson’s Common Core classroom materials on
Microsoft’s tablet, the Surface. That product allows Microsoft to compete for
school district spending with Apple, whose iPad is the dominant tablet in
classrooms.
Gates dismissed any suggestion that he is motivated by self-interest."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bill-gates-pulled-off-the-swift-common-core-revolution/2014/06/07/a830e32e-ec34-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html?wprss=rss_local
The deal with Pearson is a bloodcurdling, direct conflict-of-interest, and it's scary how certain Gates is that he can just get away with it, in front of God and everybody else. Here is the comment I posted on the WaPO story:
ReplyDeleteLindsay says Gates "finds himself in an uncomfortable position". He is in an uncomfortable position, yes, but I question whether he's actually found himself there.
She recounts his interview, quoting him at length. Her story points again and again to easily verifiable public knowledge that reveals what profound untruths Gates is uttering, but he has supreme confidence that nobody anywhere will dare challenge his outright lies. Please join us in Seattle on July 26 to do that, and join the twitter thunderclap to get his attention. @ThunderclapIt http://thndr.it/1wePRQe
Gates moved swiftly indeed, to construct a whole system that holds all our children directly accountable, by force of state and federal laws, to his business plans. He is blandly certain he can get away with that.