9486 in the collection
Wall Street Journal Issues Warning to Bill Gates
Ohanian Comment: Isn't this an extraordinary opening sentence? What else is the editorial board at the Wall Street Journal in the business of? Money, money, money. Combined, of course, with power, power, power.
This admonition to Gates isn't about his budget: It's just an excuse for the editors to indulge in a favorite pasttime: dumping on public schools. Score one for the Business Roundtable.
We're not in the business of telling folks how to spend their money. But that shouldn't stop us from warning people when they are throwing it down the drain. Such is probably the case with Bill Gates and the $51 million gift to the New York City public school system he announced last week.
Certainly Mr. Gates and his wife, Melinda, deserve praise for sharing some of their fortune. Unfortunately, their donation feeds the conventional wisdom that the failure of America's urban public schools is due to a lack of money. New York City spent more than $12 billion on its public schools last year. In nominal terms, that's up from $10.6 billion in 2000 and $8 billion in 1997. And what does the city have to show for this 50% increase?
Not much. Only about half of this year's freshman high school class is expected to graduate in four years, a figure that hasn't changed appreciably in more than a decade. New York State recently identified 40% of the city's schools -- including most of its middle schools -- as failing to meet federal standards under the No Child Left Behind Act.
At least Mr. Gates isn't handing the money outright to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Instead, the donation comes in the form of grants to develop small (fewer than 500 students) specialty schools throughout the city. The New York Times reports that the city already has 29 such schools, "including the Harbor School, focused on maritime culture." It's possible New York children aren't learning to read and write because their school doesn't have such a fashionable "theme." But we doubt it.
The idea that the lack of smaller schools and classes is holding back students is a popular complaint of teachers unions trying to expand their dues-paying ranks. New York University's Emanuel Tobier noted in a Manhattan Institute report two years ago that it takes a teaching staff of more than 90,000 today to do what 35,000 did far better 50 years ago, and for roughly the same number of students.
We'd suggest that Mr. Gates's philanthropy could learn from his own business success. He made his Microsoft fortune by innovating in what was then an IBM-dominated computer world. Rather than feed the beast of the unionized public-school monopoly, Mr. Gates could promote the innovation known as charter schools. There are 24 charters now operating in New York City, but they are hampered by current law that prevents them from receiving state funds to build facilities. There's a place where $51 million would really make a difference.
— Editorial
The Gates of Learning
Wall Street Journal
2003-09-26
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106444890646974000,00.html?mod=opinion
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
