NOTE: I've done two things Bill Gates has never done:
1) Gone to a Bolivian market with my mother-in-law & bought a chicken
2) Taught in public school for 20 years
Until now, I've never made pronouncements on chickens in Bolivia.
In his blog, Bill Gates pronounces "It's pretty clear to me that just about anyone who's living in extreme poverty is better off if they have chickens. In fact, if I were in their shoes, that's what I would do--I would raise chickens." Gates goes on to give lessons in chicken husbandry, including the fecundity of chickens and the empowerment chicken ownership can bring to women.
In keeping with the Gates Gospel that he knows what people need, on June 7, 2016, Gates announced a gift of 100,000 chickens to impoverished nations worldwide, including sub-Saharan Africa and Bolivia. The Financial Times reported that Cesar Cocarico, Bolivia's minister of land and rural development, was insulted. "[Gates] does not know Bolivia's reality to think we are living 500 years ago, in the middle of the jungle not knowing how to produce. Respectfully, he should stop talking about Bolivia, and once he knows more, apologize to us."
US teachers can only wish that the AFT, NEA, and assorted educational professional groups had the courage of Cesar Cocarico to shout "No!" to Gates' chicken shit. But because the education establishment prostrates itself when money talks, children across the country are condemned to Gates's Common Core, the chicken gizzards of pedagogy.
Plenty of people advise Bill Gates to stop making pronouncements about public schools until he knows more. Instead, he gives millions to the Entertainment Industry Foundation "to elevate the status of the teaching profession."
Entertainment Industry Foundation
April 2016
to elevate the status of the teaching profession, promote students’ feeling of agency in their own learning, and create public will for rigorous, innovative teaching and learning by building a new national narrative about our education system.
$2,700,000
16
College Ready
United States
Los Angeles, California
http://www.eifoundation.org
This is a follow-up on last year's grant:
Entertainment Industry Foundation
July 2015
to support education campaign that ignites a sense of excitement for learning and establishes education as the pathway to opportunity and success
$3,000,000
13
K-12, Communications, Strategic Partnerships
Communications|United States
Los Angeles, California
http://www.eifoundation.org
Reminder where other Gates money went:
American Federation Of Teachers Educational Foundation
June 2012
to support the AFT Innovation Fund and work on teacher development and Common Core State Standards
$4,400,000
38
K-12
United States
Washington, District of Columbia
http://www.aft.org
The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education
July 2013
to support a cohort of National Education Association Master Teachers in the development of Common Core-aligned lessons in K-5 mathematics and K-12 English Language Arts
$3,882,600
21
K-12 Education
GLOBAL|NORTH AMERICA
United States
Washington, District of Columbia
http://www.neafoundation.org/
Personal Note: Decades ago, I ate chicken cooked by my mother-in-law in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
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