Netflix, Zukerberg, Gates Corporatising Education is that WISE?
In London many years ago I worked for a educational provider that had corporate advertising on education resources. I know how impressionable children are and contemplated the fact they were accessing kids subliminally.
This is gap is due to the government funding cuts to education as it steps back from providing public goods and commercialises public assets. Ideologies justify this as the market is more efficient. In my experience in 400 companies not necessarily. It depends on what efficiency means and the outcomes we all seek. Donations is to buy influence not to give from the depth of one’s heart as they see the suffering. This I am clear on today, I laugh.
This is a real concern for education given the profit motive is not about human potential but self interest in search of profit maximisation. This is not about developing mastery in children to prophet.
Below is the silicon valley connection. There has to be a return on investment. It is not done for the love of children, that is for sure. They can see the image of kids constantly hooked on computers and open to suggestion. I was a market analyst I know how marketing works, it is subtle and the aim is repeat business to profit maximise. We all get to choose the future.
The CEO of Netflix Is Making a Huge Donation to Education
http://fortune.com/2016/01/13/reed-hastings-100-million-education/
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.
Photograph by Neilson Barnard — Getty Images
January 13, 2016
Reed Hastings is spending money on more than just streaming content.
The Netflix (nflx, +2.93%) CEO has launched a $100 million philanthropic fund aimed at supporting education groups and initiatives. The Hastings Fund’s first gift is $1.5 million that will go to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley “to provide students of color with exceptional post-secondary educational experiences,” according to the fund’s website.
Hastings serves on the board of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley, while both he and UNCF President Michael Lomax serve as directors for public charter school group the KIPP Foundation.
Hastings is the fund’s sole trustee while Neerav Kingsland, the former CEO of charter school supporter New Schools for New Orleans, is serving as CEO. The fund’s website explains its philanthropic mission: “Currently, too many children do not have access to amazing schools. Our aim is to partner with communities to significantly increase the number of students who have access to rich and holistic educational experiences.”
The Netflix chief is one of several tech industry billionaires who put a lot of money into education initiatives, including Facebook’s (fb, +3.49%) Mark Zuckerberg as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Hastings has been interested in education reform for some time, having previously donated millions of dollars to start charter schools in California, where he previously served as president of the state’s Board of Education