Monday, September 29, 2014

Bill Gates Says He Wants Common Standards AND A Common Curriculum

It's all about being "common" - for the commoners, at any rate:

Bill Gates called the Common Core academic standards a “very basic idea” to set national standards for what students should know at various grades.

But at a POLITICO event Monday, he also stepped right up to the edge of advocating a common curriculum as well — something that Common Core supporters have made it clear they do not intend to impose.

“Should Georgia have a different railroad width than anybody else? Should they teach multiplication in a different way? Oh, that’s brilliant. Who came up with that idea?” Gates said.

...

He said he thought of Common Core as “a technocratic issue,” akin to making sure all states use the same type of electrical outlet. “The idea that what you should know at various grades … should be well structured and you should really insist on kids knowing something so you can build on that. I did not expect that to become a big political issue.”

Gates described the state of education before Common Core was introduced as “a cacophony” because every state had different standards. Many of those standards, he said, didn’t align well with exams.


“Common Core is, to me, a very basic idea that kids should be taught what they’re going to be tested on and that we should have great curriculum material,” he said.

Standardization imposed from atop by the political functionaries of oligarchs like Gates.

And now he's out in the open about the standardized curricula he wants for all the kids in the country - except for those fortunate enough (or wealthy enough) to not be in the public school system.

I'm betting CCSS proponents are already going to be looking to undo the damage Gates did with his statements at the Politico event.

CCSS folks keep telling us Common Core is not a common curriculum - but now Bill Gates, the billionaire who's put more money up in support of Common Core than anybody other Uncle Sam, says differently.

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