Summary: Bill Gates' lobbying in schools is taken up a notch, with more PR stunts, more AstroTurfing, and gains to be made also in Microsoft-based employment (libraries too)

YESTERDAY we received some encouraging feedback from the Seattle Education 2010 blog, which is run by parents of students who are concerned about schools falling into the hands of Gates' private business, which gets advertised as a "charity" or "philanthropy". There is this new blog post which points to a recent appearance in Democracy Now (turning schools into businesses, under the guise of "reform").

“Decisions ought to be made by informed individuals with expertise in their field, not Napoleonistic men to whom the education system is something to be exploited at taxpayers' expense.”A forum with Diane Ravitch, one of the notable critics [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] of the Gates Foundation's interference in education (with endorsement from the government), is coming to speak very soon based on the Seattle Education 2010 blog.

There is this new article, "The Small Schools Myth", which is saying that Gates does more harm than good to education. He 'donates' whilst actually wasting public money: [via]

Did Bill Gates waste a billion dollars because he failed to understand the formula for the standard deviation of the mean? Howard Wainer makes the case in the entertaining Picturing the Uncertain World (first chapter with the Gates story free here). The Gates Foundation certainly spent a lot of money, along with many others, pushing for smaller schools and a lot of the push came because people jumped to the wrong conclusion when they discovered that the smallest schools were consistently among the best performing schools.

Decisions ought to be made by informed individuals with expertise in their field, not Napoleonistic men to whom the education system is something to be exploited at taxpayers' expense. Seattle Education 2010 has this message to teachers -- a message expressed earlier this month:

The Elder himself, Bill Gates, carries a supply of Jay’s KIPP book to hand out to anyone interested in the Oligarchs’ choice of a final solution to educating the poor and the brown of urban America.

And more from the same blog:

Will Mr. Gray talk with the voters to see what kind of public school the public wants, rather than reporting to the Broad Foundation and the Gates Foundation and the Walton Foundation? Parents and teachers don’t want schools to prepare mind-scrubbed test-takers and obsequious drones for the corporate state.

Watch Gates passing some money to Broad to promote its agenda from seemingly "independent" directions:

Broad Residency Receives $3.6 million Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Help Execute Teacher Effectiveness Initiatives

It is not just the Gates-funded Broad which pushes Gates' agenda like a lobbying arm. There is a lot more than that. "It was paid for and used by the Alliance for Education to fabricate the Astroturf “Our Schools Coalition” in order to put pressure on the teachers union to accept reforms that the Gates-puppet Alliance is pushing," alerts Seattle Education 2010:

It was paid for and used by the Alliance for Education to fabricate the Astroturf “Our Schools Coalition” in order to put pressure on the teachers union to accept reforms that the Gates-puppet Alliance is pushing.

They apparently felt the need to try to trick teachers into caving into their demands at the bargaining table by creating the illusion of grassroots support for a discredited ed reform agenda that no parents or teachers asked for.

A big clue that this survey was a nonorganic, outside agenda being grafted onto Seattle is the survey’s out-of-the blue final suggestion of bringing “Teach for America” recruits to Seattle’s schools. (That’s “Teach for America, Inc.” by the way, a multimillion dollar enterprise with ties to the Broad Foundation and support from the Gates Foundation.)

Gates et al. are still gently bribing officials to implement their agenda:

Put on your dunce cap Arne Duncan and go sit in the corner! And while you’re at it, read a history book or two.

[...]

For Arne Duncan to even think that he could possibly consider himself on that level leads me to believe that he is either not in touch with this reality or his ego has been so overblown by the money and prestige afforded him by Broad and Gates that he truly has begun to believe that he is on the same level of a Rosa Parks or others equal to her stature.

Looking at the Memphis example, watch this little update:

I would strongly suggest that the city take all its financial resources (the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, etc.) and put it where it will have a positive outcome.

Here is money with strings attached to it

The centerpiece of discussion was MCS's $90 million blueprint (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) to improve how teachers are hired, promoted and paid.

We wrote about what Gates was doing to Memphis schools in previous posts such as:

• Boston Globe Writes About Gates' Dangerous Influence on US Education, Memphis Provides New Example
• Gates Foundation Accused of “Steer[ing] State and National Policy in Education” (Monopolising Schools)
• Gates Roundup: Monsanto, Colonisation, Clinton Ties, and Control of Education
• How the Gates Foundation Blocks GNU/Linux and Free Software in National Libraries, Then Inherits Education
• “Both Sen. Williams and Mr. Gates Do a Great Disservice to the Hundreds of Thousands of Students and Teachers”
• The World According to Gates: Constructing a System of Profitable Philanthropy
• More Dubious Practices from the Gates Foundation
• Microsoft Builds Coalitions of NGOs, Makes Political and Educational Changes
• Microsoft and the Gates Foundation Inherit More Roles of the US Department of Education
• Bill Gates and Microsoft Use Government Support to Turn Public Schools Into Private Business
• Gates Foundation Still Sponsors Blogs That Praise Its Work, Lobbies Governments, Takes Over School Districts

Characteristically, Gates cannot force people to change all on his own. He will be using some more politicians and celebrities as usual, in order to push his agenda (we gave many such examples of fake endorsements before). Gates' latest front man seems to be talented singer John Legend, which AFP says "tout[s] education reform" (that would be 'reform' the Gates way):

Bill Gates, John Legend tout education reform

[...]

The pair joined David Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") for the international premiere at the Toronto film festival of his latest documentary "Waiting for Superman," which follows five students as they try to navigate a broken US public school system.

Without knowing about it, John Legend has been duped. At Gates' behest, Legend is working against the interests of parents, teachers, and pupils, indoctrinating them into thinking the opposite of reality. It's all just an exercise in PR. "Harvard Dropout Gates Pitches ‘Superman’ Film on Awful Schools," says Bloomberg and there is more story-telling about this shameless publicity stunt from Gates.

“At Gates' behest, Legend is working against the interests of parents, teachers, and pupils, indoctrinating them into thinking the opposite of reality.”There was more lobbying from Gates at this Toronto film festival and we wrote about this earlier in the week. In general, Gates has been having some film PR in schools recently, with an example at UCLA and accompanying advertisements (even making self-congratulatory PR (press release) out of it).

Microsoft does something similar in the London Film Festival, for self gain (Vista 7 advertising). To quote the news, "Microsoft has agreed a deal with the British Film Institute (BFI) for Windows 7 to become the main sponsor of the 54th London Film Festival."

It's all about advertising and agenda-pushing.

Gates' appearance in Toronto was not just about pushing his agenda in US schools. He is harming Canada too now (expansion of the same type of agenda), having recently formed some self-serving relationship with Harper. There is an article that seems like some kind of advertisement in the New York Times ("Bill Gates Stirs Up the Education Debate in Toronto") and The Star (Canada) helps this convicted monopolist (not just lobbyist) by printing the article "Bill Gates Stirs Up the Education Debate in Toronto" (it's propaganda regarding public policy).

Even the United Kingdom and Ireland cannot escape the influence of this dangerous man. The Belfast Telegraph says that the Employment Minister is going to meet Gates (it's like he is part of government function now).

Empey set to meet Microsoft founder

A meeting with Bill Gates will be on the schedule as the Employment Minister visits New York, it has emerged.

The billionaire Microsoft founder will welcome Sir Reg Empey this week as the minister embarks on a US trip highlighting the local workforce.

Why is it that companies like Microsoft are setting the agenda in areas where they do not belong? It's an intrusion. One reason for Microsoft's co-founder to meet an employment minister is to ensure that employment -- just like education -- continues to depend on Microsoft products.

“[I]nstead of teaching pupils how to use computers as a generic tool to solve their particular problems, it becomes instead a dull exercise in committing to memory various ritual Microsoft sequences to achieve one specific task.”
      --Glyn MoodyWatch Chicago lobbying this month, starting with Microsoft indoctrination in the city. It's one of those cases where people are taught to be servants of Microsoft and in turn demand Microsoft products from employers. This latter example says: "Jason got the highest score in the country on the Microsoft Office Specialist Excel 2003 Exam in February. He went on to compete in the 2010 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office in August and ranked fifth in the world."

To quote this week's article from Glyn Moody, "I know as a parent from years of interaction with the school system at various levels that what passes for computer teaching is in fact little more than rote learning of where the Open command is on the menu in Word and Excel. That is, instead of teaching pupils how to use computers as a generic tool to solve their particular problems, it becomes instead a dull exercise in committing to memory various ritual Microsoft sequences to achieve one specific task." To make matters worse, by teaching young people to only use Microsoft (when they grow up) they are in turn endangering health, for example, with new Exchange flaws that are being reported and cause no alarm to those who irresponsible make healthcare dependent on Microsoft.

Going back to the Chicago example, watch what Gates is doing this month. He is lobbying to control Chicago schools too:

Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and billionaire global icon, visited the 5th floor of Chicago City Hall on Friday, perhaps signaling the future plans of retiring Mayor Richard Daley, a source close to City Hall confirmed.

[...]

Gates' Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation raises and donates millions of dollars toward urban education systems, focused on making sure students are college-ready. Daley has long focused on improving Chicago's public school system. Whether a partnership develops as a result of Gates' visit Friday remains to be seen.

As money is being pushed into more schools (subscribers only) for control over decision-making, there are reasons to suspect that Gates will continue to corrupt them for Microsoft's benefit and do so mostly at taxpayers' expense (that's what makes schools so appealing to him, it's indoctrination parents pay for).

Based on The Tampa Tribune, Gates' unique infiltration into Hillsborough schools carries on:

Among the district's accomplishments under her supervision are achieving an A grade overall for the district in recent years on the state's report card, earning national accreditation for the district for the first time, and landing a $100 million grant to improve teacher effectiveness from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Can't they point out what Gates has to personally gain from this? Well, as we pointed out and showed here before, a lot of the education press the Gates Foundation simply funds (it's PR which the foundation consistently calls "communication"). This is how it controls coverage and sets the agenda. This is why Web sites about schools and education overwhelmingly continue to kiss the foundation's feet/shoes whereas it's left just to small blogs like Seattle Education 2010 to shine some light.

Last month we pointed out that there is similar propaganda from Gates regarding libraries. Gates sponsors all sorts of self-serving 'studies' which are quoted everywhere (setting the agenda with their position papers and self-serving surveys/papers about public libraries) and this is how he takes over US libraries, even some in Greece. On the subject of Gates in libraries we wrote in posts such as:

• How the Gates Foundation Blocks GNU/Linux and Free Software in National Libraries, Then Inherits Education
• Gates Foundation (and Microsoft) Take the Libraries Takeover Global

Gates is still up to it, putting Windows-based computers on desks which will serve many thousands of people (each computer will):

The Gates grant is focused on helping libraries that are serving populations in need of the assistance and which are vulnerable to having their technological service become obsolete.

More here and also here, to name an example from the middle of the month:

State library getting federal money for broadband

[...]

The U.S. Commerce Department funding will cover most of the project's cost. The rest is coming from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rasmuson Foundation.

Those who do not want to learn may choose to believe that Gates is a generous donator, but those who are insensitive to PR campaigns may remember Bill Gates saying "Get me into that and goddam, we'll make so much money!" ⬆