Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A letter to Bill Gates...but how do you find out his address?

Dear Mr. Gates,
If you really have time to read this, please give consideration to a couple of my thoughts on education.
1) As a teacher since 1968, I believe that the American Education system is NOT "broken." I agree with you that some schools have problems especially in our urban centers and rural areas. I taught in a high school district in an affluent suburb of Chicago where teachers now make in excess of $!00,000. Since jobs in this district were competitive, principals had a quality pool from which to pick. My best years there were the early 90's when class size was less than 25. In other words, teacher compensation and class size do make a difference.
2) Most teachers are in the profession because a) they love their subject and b) they like kids and c) they like the challenge of engaging students to acquire knowledge. They aren't in it to get rich or because the job is easy. In other words, most teachers are good teachers.
3) Our societal problems such as lack of living-wage jobs, drugs, gangs and violence in the streets are the main cause of our educational problems. It's not incompetent teachers. Please reconsider the reasons for this emphasis on inferior teachers. In other words, I would love to see you put your billions of dollars to create jobs, parental centers and early education centers in our cities' poorest neighborhoods.
4) And finally, please leave education in the realm of public institutions. Do not relegate it to profit-making ventures such as Phoenix University.
Thank you for your time and effort in reading this.

A concerned educator

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