Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Diane Ravitch Answers Bill Gates on Education

"In a paean to Bill Gates, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter calls Diane Ravitch the Microsoft founder's "chief adversary."

It's the world's richest (or second richest) man vs. an education historian and New York University research professor.

Gates, through his philanthropic foundation, has invested billions of dollars in education experiments and now has a pivotal role in reform efforts. Ravitch, the author of the bestselling The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has become the most vocal opponent of the Obama administration's education policy. She says Gates is backing the wrong initiatives and harming public schools.

In this Newsweek piece, Gates poses some questions aimed at Ravitch, and she was asked to answer them. Below are the questions Gates asked, in bold, and the answers, in italics, that Ravitch provided in an email."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/diane-ravitch/ravitch-answers-gates.html