02.16.16
Harvard University Becomes a Vassal of Microsoft and Grooms Famous Criminals
Part of a broader scheme implicating Microsoft in systemic corruption, transforming schools and universities into Microsoft outposts, at taxpayers’ expense
Summary: Gates’ university of choice, which he still preys on, becomes a carrier of Microsoft indoctrination and has become a part of Microsoft’s government-assisted takeover of Computer Science education in the US
BILL GATES never graduated from Harvard (honorary degrees don’t really count for anything, they’re virtually for sale). He was a dropout. Nevertheless, Gates took control of Harvard, as well as many other universities in the US (and to a lesser degree abroad too). By passing them some money under false pretenses he hijacked their Computer Science agenda/curriculum (tilted in Microsoft’s favour) and even named facilities after himself. It’s a very un-academic thing to do. It’s antithetical to the notion of education.
After bribing officials to secure overpriced school contracts (as we covered here last night) Microsoft now takes over universities, not just schools. As Slashdot put it yesterday:
Did you know that Microsoft has supported Harvard in creating a new version [of its wildly-popular CS50 course] called CS50 AP, designed specifically for secondary school educators?” asks a Microsoft Born to Learn Blog post. “If you might like to teach CS50 AP (and, in turn, AP CS Principles) in your own classroom this year,” Harvard informs prospective teachers, “you are cordially invited to join us at one of our teacher training workshops to be held in various locations around the country and the world!” But before applications can be successfully submitted, teachers are required to respond to the following statement, and Harvard won’t take ‘No’ for an answer: “Our friends at Microsoft are helping us distribute the teacher support materials for this version of CS50 for secondary school teachers and students. By checking the box below, you acknowledge that we may share the data you submitted through this form with them as part of this planning process.” Microsoft is certainly calling the K-12 CS education shots these days — heck, the White House even let Microsoft President Brad Smith brief reporters about plans to spend $4B in tax dollars on a new CS for All K-12 initiative before the President told taxpayers about it. By the way, the CS50 AP Wiki contains a CS50x/CS50 AP Authorization and Release form which, among other things, requires camera-shy CS50 AP students to agree to “sit in a ‘no-film’ zone” if they do not want photos or videos of themselves used by Harvard to promote the Microsoft-supported course.”
We covered that latter bit about Brad Smith earlier this month.
To quote the nausea-inducing words: “Our friends at Microsoft are helping us distribute the teacher support materials for this version of CS50 for secondary school teachers and students. By checking the box below, you acknowledge that we may share the data you submitted through this form with them as part of this planning process. [...] This field is required. Please enter a value.”
“Harvard is now shit,” told us a reader who used to work for a large US university. “How embarrassing for them and for the US in general.”
“This seems to raise a lot of questions,” one person told me this morning in Twitter, “ethical, legal, integrity – on US, Microsoft, EU, Romania etc.”
Microsoft is still a cancer in education. It’s all about making young people dependent (locked into) secret code with back doors. Harvard should be absolutely ashamed of itself. It occasionally invited a famous criminal, Bill Gates, to give speeches there, as if this is the example they wish to give to students. UCLA also does the same with the world’s largest patent troll [1, 2], who is a close friend of Bill Gates. It all boils down to corruption and rotten politics. █
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