Bill Gates Talks Twitter, Education and Global Health

Earlier this week, Bill Gates (@BillGates) sat down with Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show.  The Gates Foundation grantmaking focus is backing innovations in education, food, and health as well as some related areas like savings for the poor.  Gates describes the foundations plan for the US.

The foundation works on health in poor countries because we think it’s the best way to improve lives globally. In the United States, we believe the best way to improve lives is to improve public education. America’s education system has been fundamental to its success as a nation. But the way we prepare students has barely changed in 100 years. If we don’t start innovating in education to make it better and more accessible, we won’t fulfill our commitment to equal opportunity, and our competitiveness will fall behind that of other countries.

If you would like to read his annual letter, which came out this week, the education points are on pages 8 and 9.  The focus comes in two sections:  improving teaching, and the role online education will play in improving student learning.  It is clear that focusing on better teaching—not school size or structure, as in its previous grantmaking strategies—is the key to high school improvement. 

Here is the six minute interview that aired earlier this week.