Another snapshot from yesterday's hearings:
Gates got a good reception from the committee, which was holding the hearing to mark the 50th anniversary of the panel's founding after the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957. "We are on the cusp of another Sputnik moment," said committee Chairman Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn. "I fear that our country has coasted on the investment made in the last 50 years."
imho this theme highlights major problems in our our school systems and priorities. The "no child moves ahead" program has mutated many educational programs into standardized test score optimization engines, and our society continues to shamefully undervalue educators.
One of many deeply influential moments for me at the landmark ACM 97 event (warning: I tried to launch one of the ancient NetShow videos at the Microsoft Research page referenced by the link and somehow crashed my cable router; the PowerPoint 97 download worked, however...) was Elliott Soloway's comment that "public education is the premier institution of democracy"; American society certainly doesn't invest in education at a level that reflects that belief...
Microsoft | Revamp visa system, Gates urges Congress | Seattle Times Newspaper
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