Each year, nationwide, about $500 billion is spent on K-12 education, and almost all of it comes from taxpayers. By that measure, this gift is a fraction of 1 percent of total expenditures. But in terms of existing philanthropy, yes, $2 billion actually would be a huge deal. No one has exact figures, but the best estimates are that K-12 educational philanthropy in the United States totals nearly $4 billion a year. So if our billionaire decides to spend the entire $2 billion just in fiscal ’08, that would be a big portion of the national total.
-How Many Billionaires Does It Take to Fix a School System?
1 comment:
"How Many Billionaires Does It Take to Fix a School System?"
When the school system is producing journalists who can't tell the difference between reality and dreams, my answer is "an infinite number".
When a billionaire or two has ACTUALLY fixed the school system, let's use the above headline. How about, until then, we use something like ""How Many Billionaires Does It Take to ATTEMPT to Fix a School System?"
How about, also, let's actually define what we MEAN by fixing the school system. A primary reason everyone is complaining about the US school system is that every 10% of the population defines the job of the school system differently.
For some, the goal of the school system is to produce good little citizens (who believe right-wing propaganda); for others it is to produce good little citizens (who believe left-wing propaganda).
For some the goal is to make sure those at the bottom, whether mentally/physically broken, or poor, are given every opportunity money can provide, while for others it is to make sure that those at the top (whether wealthy, good athletes, or smart) get every opportunity.
For some the goal is to teach a large body of facts, while for others the goal is to teach "the ability to learn".
and so on and so on. To simply say "yeah, we support every one of those goals" is to get absolutely nowhere --- being a leader is about saying no more often than it is about saying yes.
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