Screen Schooled: Two Veteran Teachers Expose How Technology Overuse Is Making Our Kids Dumber

by Joe Clement

Why would they seek out Bill Gates? Mr. Gates is brilliant, but he also happens to be one of the world’s richest people, and his charitable foundation gives hundreds of millions of dollars to educational causes. Much of the money in this case went to convince politicians and state boards of education that the Common Core standards were an improvement over existing state standards, and the new model was needed to even the playing field nationally. For example, over $15 million went to lobbying groups in Kentucky to get that state to sign on. A single North Carolina group, the Hunt Institute, received $5 million. This group created “sample letters to the editor, op-ed pieces that could be tailored to individuals depending on whether they were teachers, parents, business executives or civil rights leaders.” All told, the Gates Foundation spent over $170 million nationwide to get states to sign on to Common Core. Former US secretary of education Arne Duncan, who had been head of Chicago Public Schools, worked to push the standards through. While in Chicago, Duncan received $20 million from Gates to reform high schools there. Ironically, while serving in DC, Duncan’s children attended public school in Virginia, one of four states to not adopt Common Core. Forty-six states signed on. Eight have since abolished the program. Currently, the future of Common Core is murky. The effects of the program, though, are long lasting.