Bill Gates, at the TED 2009 conference:
"The market does not drive the scientists, the communicators, the thinkers, the governments to do the right things… and only by paying attention to these things, and having brilliant who care and draw other people in can we make as much progress as we need to."
He reports that 30 of US students drop out, but numbers haven't been reported because they were reporting only 12th grade dropouts. And if a great teacher teaches students, there is a huge difference. Drop-out rate among minorities is over 50%
Also, after teachers teach for three years, their teaching doesn't improve, even with masters degree.
On average, the slightly better teachers leave the system.
He talks about how some teachers and schools are deeply engaged in making teaching better.
I've been volunteering with a school, Choctaw Ridge Academy, that does things differently, which is struggling to stay alive. Bill Gates should help that school. It's model for working with the kind of kids who usually drop out or are thrown out of school, therapeutic community dayschool, is brilliant.
