Bill Gates and Teaching

Article in the New York Times

My thoughts:
 

This is an extremely sensible article, the most sensible part being the willingness to evaluate and change, not just teachers but the system of evaluation. I respect Gates’ willingness to look at what he did, question its success, and make adjustments. There is a difference between teaching and business where business success leads to profits for the company and good education leads to profits for students and society, so education lacks a pool of growing financial resources with which to reward good evaluations to all who deserve, lest they don’t have the pool of financial rewards to match the good evaluations. I like the notion of a balanced approach and I particularly like the recognition that student feedback is important. Business relies on the feedback, through opinions or behavior, of its customers, and there is no reason not to look at student opinions and behavior as good measures of success. We are often too quick to punish “bad behavior,” for example lateness, absenteeism, homework not done, then to look at it as the students’ way of giving feedback about the educations they receive. 

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Look at The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers.