Polio vs. education

Floyd McKay

Floyd McKay Jul 4, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Polio vs. education</h1>
                <h2><p>Is eradicating polio easier than fixing the U.S. education system? Bill Gates thinks so. He made the comment yesterday during a talk at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a GeekWire report. But Gates also believes that the U.S. hasn’t run dry of educational solutions.The</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/floydmckay-comcast-net/">Floyd McKay</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Is eradicating polio easier than fixing the U.S. education system? Bill Gates thinks so. He made the comment yesterday during a talk at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to <a href="http://www.geekwire.com/2014/bill-gates-eradicating-polio-easier-fixing-u-s-education-system/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">a GeekWire report</a>. But Gates also believes that the U.S. hasn’t run dry of educational solutions.The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation has put their pocketbooks behind the <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Common Core State Standards</a>, which focus on math and language arts education. However, <a href="http://www.badassteacher.org/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Badass Teacher Association</a> members think Gates should keep his two cents (or, in this case, more than $200 million) to himself. About 150 instructors from the BTA marched to the foundation’s headquarters last week, demonstrating their disdain for corporate involvement in education. Not that dealing with polio is easy: The World Health Organization recently <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/health/world-health-organization-polio-health-emergency.html?_r=0&ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">declared a global emergency</a> over its return in several parts of the world. — E.W. <br><br></p>
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Is eradicating polio easier than fixing the U.S. education system? Bill Gates thinks so. He made the comment yesterday during a talk at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, according to a GeekWire report. But Gates also believes that the U.S. hasn’t run dry of educational solutions.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has put their pocketbooks behind the Common Core State Standards, which focus on math and language arts education. However, Badass Teacher Association members think Gates should keep his two cents (or, in this case, more than $200 million) to himself. About 150 instructors from the BTA marched to the foundation’s headquarters last week, demonstrating their disdain for corporate involvement in education. Not that dealing with polio is easy: The World Health Organization recently declared a global emergency over its return in several parts of the world. — E.W.

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By Floyd McKay

Floyd J. McKay, professor of journalism emeritus at Western Washington University, was a print and broadcast journalist in Oregon for three decades. He is also a historian and his new book, "Reporting