Bill Gates!?

Read the article from NY Times.com and then the comments below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/us/19gates.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=bill%20gates&st=cse

OK, Have you ever used Windows? I have, and it often has problems. Ever get the blue screen about some error that requires a memory dump and restart? I have. Do you trust the guy who made this thing give our districts advice on where and what to cut? I don't. But really, Windows aside, that is not why. I don't trust him because he has no experience in education. That man dropped out of college and he wasn't going for a teaching degree.

Sure his money has put him in a well placed position to be an "authority." And yes he does not want to be outdone by Marc Zuckerberg, but come on, he's the one telling schools what to do?

Bill Gates can solve the problem, take about 2% of his worth and pump it into schools.

As the article states, there is solid evidence to show that smaller class sizes, not larger ones, are more effective. Imagine the drain on a teacher having to grade 60 papers versus 30 in a day and doing it in true critical fashion. Don't pay a teacher because they have an MS, pay them because their kids do well on a standardized test? OK, the private sector pays people based upon educational experience and these are people who are not shaping tomorrow's leaders. Doesn't it make sense to pay based upon qualifications and experience? I know plenty of seasoned teachers that have kids who they cannot reach, no matter how hard I try. Now tell someone who's been a teacher 20 years you're docking them because that kid didn't meet the expectations. How is that fair when they did all they could. Teachers are told to reward students for trying, why not reward teachers for the effort as well?