Let's Get Creative: Why Not Ask Bill Gates to be Secretary of Education?

OK, I know, Bill Gates is a college dropout.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's richest, is heavily involved in improving America's high schools. Bill Gates has retired from Microsoft to devote himself to the philanthropic work of the Foundation. He speaks often and eloquently to politicians and education experts on the issues and potential solutions to the challenges of providing an effective world-class education to our children.

If Gates were asked to be Secretary of Education, I do not believe he would simply do what the rest of us would do--find it very difficult to turn down a request from the President of the United States to help him help the country succeed. Bill Gates is in a unique position of having the financial and institutional strength to have an impact without joining an Administration, plus the added freedom from constraints that any government position imposes.

So, I would expect him to analyze whether he could, in that position, have an even greater impact on education than his philanthropic work alone, and would only accept the offer if he concluded that the answer were a resounding "yes". [And so, whatever his answer, it would be very telling].

With Gates as Secretary, the Department of Education would never be the same. He could get Congress and the President to accept reforms that others could not because of the unique position he occupies in our society. He is not considered partisan nor ideological nor beholden to any interest group, so it would difficult to deny his proposals by raising suspicions on any of those grounds. Who could be more effective than Gates at removing red-tape?

And, if so many roadblocks were erected to keep him from being effective, he could happily resign and return to a very rewarding and effective philanthropic life. The world's easiest political job would then be campaign manager for the opponent of the Senator or Congressman whose intransigence triggered Bill Gates' resignation.

Gates would recruit top people to work with him. The Department of Education would become among the more exciting places to be. And, when he retired, he would leave behind a cadre of people who knew how to do things more effectively.

He could dovetail his Foundation's efforts with the Department's. For example, if the Foundation funded a pilot, he could get committed follow-on support from Congress so long as the outcomes warranted it.

I cannot think of anyone who would be more effective at bringing the "change we need" in education. Would Gates consider it? One never knows until he is asked.

Yes, Mr. Gates is a college dropout; but, perhaps that might be worth overlooking.

After all, it's only our children's future.

Comments

[DavidJames]

Paul,

Roy Romer would be a better Secretary of Education. As the former Superintendent of the Los Angeles school district, he has immediate and direct experience managing one of the largest school districts in the country. He is also a former Governor of Colorado.

Direct educational experience is what is needed. We need our next Secretary of Education to know what the real challenges for our educational system are and how to address them.

The ideological business management approaches that we have been applying to education, are not working. Education is not a business, it is a sacred duty to our children. It is time to stop attacking children, teacher's unions or minorities for political purposes, and deal with the very real educational problems that we have.

Roy Romer has real world educational experience. He would not be distracted by the latest educational management fad.

Regards,

Regards

[oldpotsmuggler]

I'll go you one better.

Let's give it to another Bill.

Clinton.

[LizM]

He's too busy...and so is his wife...you know, coming to terms...with everything.

[LizM]

Getting creative is good. You would think that there should be some place for Bill Gates in this administration. And, how about asking the VP-elect to be the SoS, too!? Just sayin'...I mean, it's not as if there is anyone more uniquely qualified for the job.

[blindjester]

I'm sick to death of non-educators being pushed forward to solve education problems. We don't need more amateurs in responsible positions of government. We need the most experienced, intelligent, educated professionals we can find. That goes for every position, including secretary of education.

Millions of your fellow Americans, the great majority of them smart, hard-working, educated and well-intentioned----including both democrats and republicans, union and non-union----struggle every day to be the change we need. Faculties across the country meet every day to talk about research, to look at new methods, trying new approaches (and sometimes returning to old ones). The solutions are difficult, and not obvious or straightforward.

So don't toss out a rich amateur as if anybody could do the job. This isn't the Bush administration. Find a professional.

[timm0]

I want to add another requirement, though.

The best person is going to be one who has worked extensively in the REAL world in addition to the education world. Possession of a firm understanding as to how commerce works, how employees are managed, and how businesses live and die is a competency that I rarely see in the "education profession."

Typically, kids go from college to a school and teach. Then they retire. That experience is extremely one-dimensional. My wife does IT support for teachers in a large elementary school. The stories I hear are as demoralizing as they are predictable. The most egregious problems stem from a sense of entitlement which would never be tolerated in the real world. But it's ok in the world of the education. I don't blame the teachers - they don't know any better.

We need someone who understands more than just one of these realms.

[S1m0n]

Education IS the real world.

The beef against education for the past few decades is, ultimately, that teachers and schools can become captives of ideology, and can persist in a faulty model because of it. As a solution, the right has kept offering the world of business, where everyone is too hard-headed and bottom-line-driven to get stuck in an ideological trap.

But that's BS, isn't it? As recent events have just shown, the right can get exactly as stuck in an idological morass as anyone else. And when that happens, the problem is FAR greater. I've got a better idea. Let the 'business is the model for everything' lobby get their own houses in order before shouting about coming over to fix ours.

[mommamia526]

Sorry you are sick. Go see a doctor, pronto! That is not good! Now, as for the *professionals* in education. They are *professionals* in methods and gimmicks. We simply need better educated children and teachers. That means more and better education on all levels. In foreign schools they start teaching other languages, for example, already in elementary school. It would be even better to start that in preschool and kindergarten. As a former immigrant, I can tell you that my kids picked up English in a few months, and accentless. I spoke English, but I have an accent, and did not teach them English on purpose. I had PhD's in high school in all subjects. Children were preselected, after testing, etc., for fast track education. If you could not keep up with the program, too bad, you failed. In that case you could continue your education in another program. Fact is, blindjester, that the *professionals* are not doing the job here in the U.S. We need, indeed, professionals, but of another kind than you suggest.

[blindjester]

You say that your kids learned English in a few months without an accent?

You might as well say you ran a marathon in 30 minutes. it simply didn't happen.

Nothing you say is credible from this point on, or interesting.

We need, indeed, opinions, but of another kind than you suggest.

[larry278]

Paul, you foreclosed my comment with the 1st & last sentence of your blog. How about who will write the 1st comment saying that Bill Gates's lack of a bachelors degree is the most important reason for not making Bill Gates the Secretary of Education? The comments which give a reason or reasons why Bill Gates shouldn't become Secretary of Education will be informative.
Bill Gates will be among those who will implement Obama & Co's proposals for recovering from the melt-down. He will also de-bug & refine Obama's proposals & programs. I wonder if Pres Obama's programs will survive the Supreme Court's scrutiny & BHO won't have to deal with abandoning an idea as FDR did when the Supreme Court declared NRA unconstitounal(sp?) BHO had taught Constitounal Law for a decade or so. Some of the people BHO taught will work on all of his proposals to comb out the unconstitounal. The coming terms of the Supreme Court will keep legal scholars busy for decades. The law reviews & others who comment upon US law won't be short of material for 60 years or so. Lexus & Weslaw will tell us.
Mr Gates will be asked to aid his country often in the coming years, cabinet member or not.

[schatsie]

Not a good idea... This man kept thousands of employees as contractors refusing them benefits..

He also buried PFS Software that had application linking 10 years before Microsoft installed it... The problem with a monopoly is that they actually stifle innovation...

[DiogenesII]

Bill Gates immediately came to mind as well, given his fervent and ardent desire to
reverse the precipitous decline in our education system. He was prescient in recognizing
our dismal standing and achievement relative to the other industrialized and emerging
world nations. Our republic is all too quickly becoming a second rate, illiterate debtor nation.

Gates' effectiveness would be greatly diminished were he to allow himself to become
ensnarled in the polemics and politics of an enormously impaired and dysfunctional
entity, under siege by many, whose greatest desire is a precipitous elimination of the entire department. The broad chasm of resource allocation from one school district to another,
by accident of birth, the diverse population of pupils, teaches unions as well as the absence
of an aspirational ethos are significant impediments, not found in the largely homogeneity
countries.

The most prudent and efficacious role for Gates would, through his foundation, conjunctive
with an elevated engagement, advisor and advocacy of reengineering the public education
system, would best serve our immediate and long term needs.

[DiogenesII]

OOOPs....Grammer and syntax...I attended public schools

[S1m0n]

Because Bill thinks learning is about computers.

[JFCooper]

"Why not ask Bill Gates to Secretary of Education?"
- Because massive wealth and attendant philanthropy are not a criteria for expertise in the field of education, even if you donate millions of dollars around the world.
- Because massive wealth and attendant philanthropy do not necessarily make Gates immune to influence by entrenched interests.
- Because Gates focuses on efforts to make workers rather than educate citizens.

That's what you get from a business savvy college dropout with billions to throw around.

[timm0]

Paul, if you had any inkling of how Mr. Gates got to be so rich, you might not be so willing to retain your endorsement.

If he DID become Ed Sec., I can guarantee one thing for sure: every school in the US will soon thereafter use and teach with software from only one company. (Which is a hint as to how he got so rich.... been a great deal written about it... I've witnessed a good bit first hand, too... not exactly a mystery.)

In short, a guy who built a monopoly and avoided an anti-trust conviction (and probable company break-up) ONLY through the miracle of the then-brand-new Bush administration's 2001 decision to de-fund the Justice Department's pursuit of the investigation of microsoft's many violations, is probably not the best guy to put in ANY Cabinet post. (Of course, microsoft was convicted and fined in the EU for anti-competitive conduct....)