Bill Gates is rich, very rich. He may be the richest man on earth. He dropped out of college and developed
software to make a DOS PC run as easily as Apple’s Mac. That made him rich, that plus the fact that
every DOS manufacturer began installing Windows on their PC’s prior to sale. Gates is a software and entrepreneurial wizard
and deserves credit and respect in the fields of his success.
Gates evidently is a chess buff. He plays chess. This morning I read that Gates was on a Norwegian
talk show with Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the recently crowned World Chess Champion. Inevitably the host of the talk show has a
chess board brought on the set and Bill and Magnus agree to play. Nine moves and 71 seconds later Magnus
Carlsen checkmates Bill Gates. If you
find that unbelievable, here is a link to a video of the actual chess
game. It will not take long to
watch.
Bill Gates plays chess.
He practices chess. He knows
strategy, the moves, and the nature and purpose of the game. I have no idea how many chess games he has
played, but clearly he is not uncomfortable with the game of chess. When he meets a pro, a real master of chess,
he is demolished, wiped out, and his lack of real expertise in chess is
dramatically displayed in 71 seconds. He
shrugged, took it like a man, and everyone had a good laugh.
Not me. I am
crying. I am angry. Bill Gates has never been a teacher. He has never been an administrator. He has never been a superintendent or a
member of a school board. He has not
studied education. He has not practiced
education. And yet, he proposes wild
reforms for public education that many have supported, including Arne Duncan,
our Secretary of Education. It breaks my
heart.
Would you take chess advice from Bill Gates? Would you take chess advice from Magnus
Carlsen? Then why the heck do we take
educational advice from Bill Gates and ignore Diane Ravitch and a host of
others who are screaming about the sinister failure of the current reform
movement? At the hands of a real professional
educator, Gates would be equally demolished in the field of public education,
not to mention public education reform.
I believe given his total lack of experience and practice in education
that his ability in this field is even less than his chess playing
abilities. At least he plays chess. Would he suggest that someone with no
knowledge of chess would fare better with a chess pro than he did?
We must cry foul when Bill Gates and others with no
educational background, knowledge or experience develop strategies to help
improve public schools, especially strategies that divert public dollars to
private sector entrepreneurs. I know
Gates is rich. I would be willing to learn
from him when it comes to software development and marketing. I will not under any circumstance take his
advice regarding public schools. I might
even take chess advice from him, but not public school advice. He is rich.
That does not make him an expert in everything.
He so graciously lost to a recognized expert in chess. Why will he not do the same in the field of
public education? If public education were a game of chess, Bill Gates is not
even in check.
Would someone please educationally checkmate Gates!
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