Bill Gates on The Daily Show

Bill Gates was on TDS Monday night (I caught the repeat last night) and discussed, a little bit anyway, his work on education. About 4 minutes into the video, he talks about evaluating teachers and some of the reasons for resistance. He actually address, briefly, the concern about "capricious firing." I thought it interesting. I just with Arne would name this issue -- the way it's presented is that teachers are to blame and that teachers don't want to be evaluated, presumably the reason for resistance to using test scores. (We all know the teaching job is about far more than test scores but the other factors are rarely mentioned.) Here's the link to the video:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-25-2010/bill-gates

I don't think I have the stomach to listen to his crap.

I don't either.

giving all that money away to needy causes:

Illustrative Grant Commitments

* The GAVI Alliance, expanding childhood immunization - $1.5 billion
* United Negro College Fund, Gates Millennium Scholars Program - $1.37 billion
* Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), improving seeds and soil for African farmers - $456 million
* Rotary International, polio eradication - $355 million
* PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) - $287 million
* Save the Children, Saving Newborn Lives - $112 million
* United Way of King County - $85 million
* World Food Programme, increasing small farmer income - $66 million
* TechnoServe, helping small coffee farmers improve crops and fetch higher prices - $47 million
* Heifer International, helping small farmers grow local and regional dairy markets - $43 million
* Mexico, National Council on Culture and the Arts (CONACULTA), Global Libraries Program - $30 million
* Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), testing and promoting the use of information and communications technologies to deliver microfinance products - $24 million
* Achieve, Inc. and the American Diploma Project Network, assisting states in aligning high school standards with the expectations of college and career - $23 million
* Chicago Public Schools, curriculum support - $21 million
* Opportunity Online Program, multiple library systems - $16.4 million
* Opportunity International Inc., developing and expanding a network of commercial banks in Africa - $15.4 million
* Green Dot Public Schools, supporting the transformations of Jefferson and Locke high schools in Los Angeles, Calif., into high-performing charter high schools - $9.7 million (and before you go getting your knickers in a twist - GREEN DOT charters are the TEACHERS UNION developed schools)

people who think "hard drive" gates suddenly became a selfless philanthopist when he turned 40 are fools.

can you say tax breaks, unlimited investments, privatized research patents (vaccines, gmo's) & cheap test subjects (third world children), boys & girls?

i knew you could.

gates is no more "philanthropic" than the new york hedge fund crowd pushing charter schools there, no more "philanthropic" than the walmart waltons.

people who actually give out of philanthropic motives don't become the richest person in the world.