To expect Jeff Bezos to give his $2B to some existing Montessori School Systems is akin to expecting him in 1994 to go sell books for Bernes & Noble and Books a Million! If we know something about Bezos, it is that he is not beholden to conventional ways of doing things !
1
"Don't give THEM your money... give ME your money!"
2
Jeff if you want to act philanthropic, why not just pay your workers more? Those workers at the bottom have no 'channel power' to negotiate better wages. Your opinion that "the going wage" is OK is wrong. The higher skilled career people have some power to set their wages (those with Accounting, IT or just who they know).
Jeff, why are your workers forced to be on Medicaid?
How much more money can satisfy that hole in your heart? I know you are competing against yourself and that is OK. But why do you run over people?
Wealth begets responsibility. If a person doesn't, then the government has my blessing to help those at the bottom. Who cares if they deserve it or not, that's a cop-out.
Social Democracy or in the worst case Democratic Socialism is coming. Mark my words.
6
Why does everybody think they have the right to tell everyone else how to spend their money? I'm not too keen on how Bezos made his money, but WE didn't have to give it to him, if we objected so much, now did we? Is there something wrong with teaching a bed pan emptier how to think? OR with paying them well? Maybe they won't vote for idiots and we will all benefit.
Educators, more than any other professionals, are constantly derided by laypeople who love to arrogantly tell folks that they "know better" how to educate our children. I've had neighbors who are white collar professionals (lawyers, engineers) inform me that they'd like to maybe "do some teaching" at a high school when they retire. Like it's just a lark, a charitable gift of their knowledge to the community. In their rose-hued visions, they'll pontificate from a lectern in front of their students, and the class will be FASCINATED, of course. Classroom management? Huh? Two kids have a 504, and three have an IEP? What are those? I can't think of another occupation where the armchair quarterbacks are fully convinced they can suit up and play, because they possess a deeper understanding of the game than the veterans who play it. Bezos. in essence, is just that obnoxious neighbor, writ large.
6
I was actually enthused about the diverse, bottom up approach advocated by Ms. Debs until I read this:
"Groups...are working to develop anti-bias, anti-racist curriculums and diversify the pool of Montessori teachers."
Let's focus on getting the kids to come to school and LEARN something useful first, then worry about the leftist indoctrination. I'm rooting for Bezos.
2
I thought you were going to say that Bezos, Gates et al, should not be paying privately for that which should be a public policy government decision.
If the financial elite actually want to make a real positive policy difference they should fund an all-out drive to get money out of politics. Educate voters on how they buy politicians and effectively write the law. Then make a campaign trust that funds candidates who make ending the influence of money in politics one of their top two campaign aims and issues. In essence fund themselves out of corrupting political power. In doing so they are ending all the other corrupters as well. When we have actual democracy, schools and the education of citizens will be a far higher priority of government. Some of that arbitrary philanthropic money will go to taxes to fund what people know will improve their lives. As it should.
Obviously there is a certain irony to funding campaigns that promise to end taking big money donations. But it is either that or a slower sustained tide of change in the public awareness, understanding, and rejection of big money campaign donations as explicit corruption. When that becomes issue #1 in the public mind, as it should be, we will then be able to end corruption in politics. When people realize that None of the issues they do care about will ever be addressed by big money bought candidates, politicians taking big money donations will be a deal breaker for voters.
1
Bezos will learn what Gates, Zuckerberg/Chen, Obama/Duncan, Booker and others have learned: you can throw lots of money at education and not move the needle. Commitment for the long-term, with the outcome to find the educational system(s) that can improve educational outcomes for the most vulnerable in our society, is crucial. Expect frustration. Believe that you have to partner up with many other organizations who have done some of the hard work already - it's too time consuming to let his new 'team' learn in their own bubble. Find and analyze the promising practices. The most successful national systems are nationally funded. Working toward long-term ongoing equitable funding requires strong and broad-based advocacy. Maybe simultaneously, Bezos money can be used to innovate and publish results of those innovations -- good and bad. But we will have children needing preschool forever; funding support needs to be similarly long-term with a high level of public support. It's too important a need to rely on a gift from a wealthy benefactor- even if the amount of the gift is significant.
4
The record low taxes for the uber-rich and tax loopholes have effectively allowed character like Bezos to evade taxes and then get more tax breaks for "giving" money to personally favored causes.
The "charity" itself is not evil, but the idea that the decision for what to fund has been shifted from the (underfunded) government to the uber-rich like Bezos is right out of the "doctrine of wealth" from the Gilded Age (Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc)
3
Interesting. Maria Montessori's methods were initially developed to help poor children who were left home alone while their parents worked. We've come full circle it seems.
2
Unfortunately, education, per se, is not a cure for poverty. It is a cure for some who get it and manage to improve their lot, but if everyone had a college degree, who would pick up trash, empty bedpans, clean sewer systems? "I'm sorry, sir, your Yale degree in comparative lit doesn't qualify you to work at McDonalds."
One of the great mysteries of massive foundation giving is why the good will of billionaires doesn't do more to help lift people out of poverty. They try and try and the levels of poverty barely budge, although Bill Gates and others are entirely correct to say as others have before that great progress has been made numerically.
What gives? Why can't all the king's horses and all the king's money make a true difference and fundamentally shift matters upward for the poor and the near poor?
In our own country, there is an entire sub-industry set up to exploit the poor and take what little money they earn. Here are a few of those forces:
Payday lenders. "Buy here/finance here" used car lots. Rundown apartments at high rent. Selling house trailers, "manufactured homes", so that the near poor buy depreciating assets rather than ones that go up or continue in value. Pawn shops. Extremely high interest rate loans and credit cards. Higher prices in grocery stores that sell to the poor. Bail bonds when people get into trouble. Persistent fines and fees (like Ferguson, Mo.) that target the poor. Round ups of citizens who fail to pay minor fines (Texas and others).
3
@Doug Terry Fully realizing they can't take it with them, most billionaires set up foundations to try to do something with all that money. All we know for certain, however, is that these foundations provide steady employment for sharp dressing graduates of elite colleges. Beyond that, what?
Perhaps some are truly helped along the way, but fundamental change eludes the foundations just like the rest of society, including the political establishment.
1
@Honeybee
I.too, before the pill, was able to move out of a stifling environment into a world that included an MLS (master of library science) which allowed me to have the rich pleasure of connecting people with information they wanted and needed. In my case, abstinence proved effective.
Dear Jeff:
I sent my children to Montessori pre school in the 70s because I had learned of its value and it proved to be a great choice.
I also learned recently that your mother had you while in high school as an unwed mother who went on to finish school with the support of her family.
While I support Montessori schools and commend your philanthropy in that area, I ask that you extend your support for education by gathering a team of experts and teachers who can inform your decisions without any ideological prejudice about charter, privatized, libertarian or any other iteration of educational philosophy. Follow the facts and where the proven records are of real performance not short term profit.
I say this as the mother and mother in law of public school teachers who keep me informed about what is the reality of education today. We have an apartheid system of education for children in this country because we leave the funding of education to the vagaries of the wealth or poverty of a community. I was lucky enough to live in a community where there was enough money to support the schools for my children. Now in Oakland due to Proposition 13 many privileged parents send their children to private school. It did not used to be that way.
Please take a holistic view of the problem given your enormous wealth and great intellect. I also ask that you create a work environment of the kind you would have wanted your mother to work in.
5
Education is a government responsibility, period.
4
@Murray Bolesta. Very sad comment as governments, especially in Arizona, are failing miserably at providing education. I am betting that you would oppose any significant tax increase to improve education in your state.
Mr. Bezo's factories pay ' little bit more' than other factories, and taking time for pee breaks, or getting sick is not allowed. A glove that guides the hand to hundreds of bins helps make the work breakneck and consistent over hours, while they select products to fit into another bin. The grocery store chain he bought, Whole Foods, is piloting a worker less grocery store, employing no one. Yup, I sure hope three year olds are vividly aware of the exciting factory work in their working lives.
9
not much about the real charitable industrial complex that may eat up most of the money in overboard overhead expenses ..or branch out into for profit partnerships hidden behind LLP's
2
The education that Mr. Bezos should invest in now is the large swath of voting age Americans who will be voting in 6 weeks and do not have access to legitimate journalism.
The price point for the WaPo and NYT precludes the Americans who need it most.
Mr. Bezos: please open the WaPo to the masses for the next critical 6 weeks.
1
The education that Mr. Bezos should invest in now is the large swath of Voters who do not have access to reliable journalism.
The cost of WaPo and NYT excludes the readers who need it most.
Mr. Bezos: please open the WaPo to all Americans for the next critical 6 weeks.
7
@Dama Great idea!
2
Narcissists like Bezos, Zuckerberg and Gates will only collaborate with others if they see huge financial gain in it - otherwise, they see sharing the spotlight as not worth it.
It will come as a surprise to those who think that the accumulation of wealth indicates "success", but these people have significant mental health issues.
5
The best way to fund education is to pay taxes.
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@Gordon
The USA spends more to educate its students with worse results than the vast majority of OECD countries - the United States spent $12,300 per full-time-equivalent student on elementary and secondary education, which was 29 percent higher than the OECD average of $9,600
The problem is not money - many people - like me - believe it is innovation
1
Nothing is more undemocratic than charity.
10
It is democratic, the owner of the money dictates what causes to support ! On the other hand, taxation is undemocratic! Of all the millions he pays in taxes, he has no sway in our public education!
Sadly Mr.Bezo’s attempt to change education by throwing two billion into the mix will have a very limited impact. I do not blame him for trying. Mr. Bezo would do far better by studying the impact of childhood poverty and the implications on brain development and education. After studying poverty and the dire consequences it has on children, he would do well to help end childhood poverty. Instead he has fallen into a state of possible self delusion that because he is wealthy and powerful he has the panacea for education. He is trying to control the outcome which can be contrived by the constraints he will put on his programs. I work in an urban environment where the teachers are excellent but the struggle for our families realizing the value of education and working with us is REAL. We work incredibly hard to mitigate poverty but it is an arduous task. You can not control outcome. There are no magic bullets in the face of hunger, drug addiction, neighborhood drama, gang violence, homelessness and so on. But I do believe those problems can be somewhat resolved by jobs that pay above minimum wage, job security with benefits and stable housing for starters. Mr. Bezo’s two billion will barely be a droplet, a ping of rain in a bucket that is filled with holes.
100
I agree it would be wonderful to work to eliminate poverty, and thus, eliminate or mitigate impoverished children. But for a wide variety of reasons, there are no silver bullets for that - not any kind of bullets. For how many years have trillions of public dollars and armies of well-intentioned public and private people worked toward this goal? While I applaud your lifetime of service, I think you’re misguided in chastising Bezos for taking a different tack. We can not eliminate childhood poverty. But we can sever the cycle. We can help young children become competent individuals, control impulses, have positive aspirations, and potentially, in the long view, help their communities and families come out of poverty in ways that no external search party could. It’s a drop in the bucket for Bezos, but I think this is a good idea.
@Elena Rose: I have a lot of neighbors who are in Section 8 housing, and pay as little as $40 a month (!!!) for a 3 bedroom house similar to my own.
Some are stable, but most are in continual chaos -- it is common for them to get KICKED OUT of Section 8 due to stuff like drugs....crime....moving in boyfriends or other people without permission....parties....destroying the landlord's property. You'd think someone would protect their Section 8 certificate as it is such a huge asset, but most blow it off because they have a sense of arrogance and entitlement -- "society OWES ME a cheap place to live".
Mr. Bezos has the right intentions, but is missing the forest for the trees. The problem is not Montessori schools. The problem is not MONEY -- we spend more per child than any other nation on earth.
The problem with SCHOOLS is greedy public unions.
The problem with KIDS is unwed single mothers on welfare.
The SOLUTION is promoting marriage -- traditional marriage -- so that every child is raised by his/her REAL MOTHER and REAL FATHER in a stable home. Even poor homes can be stable, decent and have two married parents who promote education and good behavior!
1
@Robert Mahowald if Bezos would pay his employees a living wage, that would be a start.
Education is an investment in the future. For twenty five years or more we have watched successive administrations cut pre-school funding, educational budgets, food stamps, lunch programs and the like because given the choice between low taxes and smart children they prefer the former.
So now we have 20% of American children living below the poverty line and yet we pound our chests saying "America is Great". This is not about getting the rich to pay more, the top 5% pay over 85% of all income taxes. Taxpayers should not look to Bezos or Gates to solve the problems our government should be addressing. Skip the aircraft carrier and you'll more than pay for pre-school, lunch programs and the benefit to the economy will pay dividends for years to come.
4
The government has not, in fact, cut spending (adjusted for inflation) per pupil in the last decades. It is precisely the opposite. And it is this significant increase in funding paired with a decrease in results that has created the education crisis and motivated people like Bezos to tackle the problem. He doesn’t have the funding limitations or political debts so he is free to conceive and implement a specific vision.
He may fail. More likely, he will fail some but also discover more of what can work.
My hope, as a member of the Montessori community, is that he understands there are many Montessori educators in this ecosystem. (whether in profit or non-profit Montessori organizations). While I wouldn’t want to stifle the valuable independence he brings with his $2B, I wonder what this means for the Montessori community.
2
@AusTex New York City has implemented Preschool for All but then of course, only a small percentage of NYC school children are the offspring of people born with American citizenship.
I question his judgment. I recently read (in Bloomberg Businessweek) that Amazon's cloud centers in OH & VA don't pay their own electricity bills due to an agreement with the power companies. The cost is being passed on to residents in those areas. If Bezos wants to help children and families, he would do well to pay his own bills - and take the author's good advice.
8
i suspect Jeff Bezos thinks he can build a better system than what is currently out there. It would be easier for him to just write a check to a third party. He has chosen a path that places the responsibility for success on his shoulders. That should be admired. As to whether he can build a successful Montessori school system, time will tell. Do you want to bet against him? He mastered quite a few industries so far.
2
@Kevin
Yes I want to live in a country where the rich people are not running and ruining our lives. Bezos could pay people who work for him a fair wage if he wants to do something closer to home. just because his dad was a drunk we don't need to have to hero worship him because he has been successful. We all have issues and his issues are no more important than other people's issues who work for him and don't have health care.
Montessori is a great education system already and I haven't heard my friends complaining about it. Money doesn't buy everything.
4
Expect he'll have about as much success as Gates and Zuckerberg since he doesn't know any more about education than they do.
But he'll get a lot of favorable publicity and that, after all, is what it's all about in today's world.
Here's hoping for the moment when all three are in Amazon's new round HQ in Seattle, the big one hits, it rolls into Puget Sound and we never have to hear from any of them again.
In the meantime, restore the estate tax.
7
The reason Bezos and other mega-billionaires invest in "top-down" education solutions is because they thing in the model of businessmen, in the model of return on investment. This means data, and it is easier to collect and present data from a novel and controlled group of schools. Support of existing schools muddies this data stream.
It also doesn't hurt that if the schools are successful, the plaudits don't have to be shared.
2
@James R. Wilson
*think. Sorry.
This is coming quite close to the development of a class of monetary nobility that takes care of the inferior class that simply doesn't know any better. Yes, it has been a small part of American culture from the beginning but this creates the idea that: "since government of, by and for We-the-People isn't working let the nobility take care of everything.
What nobody looks as is the role of this self-appointed nobility in making the elected government ineffective to useless by manipulating the candidates and elected officials to make sure that the wealthy and their businesses don't pay taxes at any level or pay only a pittance, that they don't pay living wages, that they fund think-tanks to craft legislation to their own benefit. Kind of like the situation that our ancestors faced over 250+ years ago in the British Parliament.
To be sure a Democratic-Republic that has to compromise to enact legislation is messy and makes mistakes and isn't efficient or subservient to the nobility but, it actually works.
Yet, we have folks who still want dictatorship by wealth and power.
5
If Jeff Bezos wants to help people, he should start with his own workers. Otherwise, what he is doing is mainly an ego trip (that might possibly have some very good results).
5
Society's essentials, like education, shouldn't be funded by charity.
If we want top notch schools for everybody, then we, collectively, should figure out what that would cost and collectively fund it. We shouldn't be waiting for the philanthropist to show up to give us what we believe is essential.
Imagine funding the military based on charity. Everyone would agree it's a ridiculous idea. Why? Because our society views the military as an essential whose quality shouldn't be left to the whims of a few rich individuals.
Apparently education and also activities like the blood supply and disaster relief aren't essential. We're willing to allow them to degrade or never reach full potential, but we cheer and our consciences are salved when some rich people step up to help, even if that help is a pittance of what is really needed.
Charity isn't something to cheer about. It shows that there are some very important things -- education, blood supply, disaster relief -- we, collectively, don't care enough about to make into certainties. Relying on charity shows us where society is failing.
14
Among the many reasons the United States is the most powerful, most productive, and wealthiest country in history are the steady growth and support of public and private education. We have created opportunity for both the have-nots and the haves. Our economy can support both forms of education, and, to the extent there is competition between the two, public policy can ensure that support of one form does not cause detriment to the other.
But any form of education that is public, must be accountable to the public. It cannot be accountable to only a wealthy donor. No matter how seemingly enlightened and benevolent, a wealthy donor to a public form of education must not be allowed to exert undue influence, lest we lose an essential part of our great experiment in republican democracy.
3
I have a dear friend who has been involved with Montessori for a half century. She has lately been travelling to China to introduce "Peace Education" to their schools. That seems to me to be a investment worth making.
Montessori “done right” or even done well is a beautiful thing for preschoolers - I have a lot of personal experience with it and it’s helpful to know that Maria Montessori developed this pedagogy for the young, trouble-making, impoverished children in Rome with the resulting conclusion that each child has the ability and will develop the internal motivation to learn through exploration (assuming that they are not overly hampered by other, extreme disabilities - though even children with significant ADHD and autism without cognitive and language impairment do benefit and can thrive). Well-regarded studies on public programs in the urban and socioeconomically challenged parts of the Midwest have shown statistically significant positive results for years. I would add that I do believe that a facilitated preschool “play-based” curriculum is one under-appreciated area neglected by montessorians. Ideally, model schools would have solid “3 hour work period” and lunch in multi-age classrooms with classic Montessori materials and instruction, followed by a different, play-based learning environment for enrichment or even as past of a long recess or break in the day. This approach allows for improved non-verbal planning and executive functioning skills. Montessori math and phonics/language are far superior to our general Ed approach imo, and the concept of our place in the world and in time that permeates the curriculum makes a great foundation for the increasing connectedness.
3
Ms. Debs, I totally get your point and agree with it. The big-money people so often overlook the small-money people, the grass roots, and this is where the real (and cost-effective) work is done.
Working with grass roots organizations, I visit the shiny offices of the big-money nonprofits and the tattered quarters of the small-money nonprofits. It's clear who is working the hardest with every dollar they get.
6
..."grass-roots programs in need of a serious cash infusion." That infusion should not have to depend on the largess of billionaires that want their names on school buildings. It should depend on corporations managed by billionaires to pay significantly more corporate income taxes - federal and state - instead of shifting pre-tax US profits to tax haven subsidiaries.
Watch Amazon, Apple, and Google tax representatives get grilled in a British government hearing in "The Town that Took on the Taxman" and "Taxodus" - both available on YouTube. Then watch, "The Spider's Web - Britain's Second Empire."
6
I have said this many a time before (especially for those that know me), that if governments all around the world (especially in the United States) worked of the people, by the people and for the people, then there would be no need for charity. (of any kind whatsoever)
Fist we must have the discussion as a society that any one person or family does not deserve, need or should have a billion dollars (or hundreds of multiples thereof)- especially in relation to the increasingly dwindling resources of the planet as a whole, and climate change.
This is not a discussion about education, or schools or largess. It is a discussion of how we have a broken political and especially tax system. No matter how wildly successful you are, it is impossible to obtain that much wealth unless you are are skirting the tax laws, or leveraging tax loopholes that the political establishment has created for your sole benefit. On top of that you have not paid your workers properly, or offered them a piece of all of those supposed profits.
If you make more money, then you should be paying more taxes Progressively upwards to a point of 100% - not less. (especially not less a percentage than the workers you employ) This is not happening, so once these people and businesses have created this massive wealth, they feel guilty and for PR reasons donate back to the community a fraction of the wealth that should have gone back them in the first place.
Teach that in all schools.
25
Why should Mr. Bezos 'limit himself' to funding just Montessori schools?
Greater impact may be possible through funding a number of different cirriculum approaches and then deciding where he gets the best 'bang for the buck'. An 'investment test' may prove where his money has the largest impact to help the most disadvantaged kids. While I am a fan of the Montessori approach, I believe it is disingenous to 'annoint' a type of school before you have metrics to prove it is the best. Moreover, some poor areas may not have any existing Montessori schools but may have other exiting equally worthy schools for investment.
4
@JK the metrics do exist. Read the research by Angeline Lillard of the University of Virginia as quoted in the piece. Also Stephen Hughes, a pediatric neuropsychologist who has written and lectured at length on the benefit of Montessori for optimal development.
Funding the grassroots organizations mentioned would be a more expeditious route to getting quality Montessori options into those poor areas -ideally directly led by members of those communities.
2
A truly revolutionary philanthropic fund would be to fund an effective strategy to improve public education across the United States by focusing on the underlying root causes of government's failure at the local, state, and federal level in order to ensure that private philanthropic aid is not necessary, and which is essentially a drop in the bucket anyway. In general, the irony of private-sector philanthropy is the money for charitable giving has been skimmed from the profits of corporate enterprises whose political strategies have been to weaken the the capacity of government to address the very social and cultural problems the philanthropists then take credit for addressing.
14
It’s his money
4
@Bar tennant Not really.
2
@Bar tenant
And that's the rub. Perhaps it really isn't, or shouldn't be. See Funkyfrishman
3
@Bar tennant It should be illegal to be a billionaire.
It's Jeff Bezoes' money, and it's quite a lot of money, so I expect he wants to manage how it is spent. If it were a less staggering amount perhaps he would be fine simply handing it off to existing charities, but this is 2 billion dollars. There is a lot of potential for mismanagement of funds when there's that much money to go around.
It's fair to say billionaire philanthropy hasn't been successful in eliminating poverty, disease, or violence, but in that respect it is no different than every other charitable organization and government program that has ever existed.
The idea that if only the government could get its hands on a bigger share of Bezoes' income they could solve the world's problems is pretty ridiculous and smacks of bitterness. I have only to ask: what historical basis is there to claim the government could spend Bezoes' money better than he could? Especially THIS government?
14
@Joel - If it was me, yes, $2 billion would be a staggering amount of money. But I just looked at "bezos net worth" and top of the search came out with $157.3 billion.
So it's nice to donate 1.27% of his current net worth, true, and no denying that. But there are problems with the idea that driven businessmen are the best suited people to fix the world. We have a driven businessman in the White House, and I'm not impressed. Zuckerberg had been acting interested in running, and frankly I'm not in favor.
We also have other zillionaires donating their money to remaking the world, so Sheldon Adelson bought a move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, and the Koch brothers and others use the biggest bullhorns money can buy to influence Congress, which bravely avoids cleaning up campaign finance laws and dark money stains.
Something that wasn't revealed in this article is how Bezos is setting up this wonderful gift. The current robber-barons have been skillful in dodging taxes, and charity money promised, but not released to the recipients, appears to be attractive to at least some of them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/business/dealbook/how-mark-zuckerberg...
So for these overly rich guys, I say they should actually hand money over to people who are already deeply familiar with the issues they want to help. Hand it over and let go.
6
@Joel
Good question about the government spending the money better. But it is the wrong question. The question (IMHO) is whether we as citizens in a democratic process should have some input on how that money is spent since we are part of him making all that money. He needs infrastructure funded by the American people to make his business work (streets, airports, postal service, etc.). Maybe we as citizens might fund other activities that benefit the whole of society and not just Mr. Bezos' chosen ideas.
2
If the money goes to a public school, the existing governance is in place to be accountable for the money. If he gives money to a private school, it is none of the public’s business except for the IRS to verify non-profit status.
2
Lots of cheap talk, about what someone else "should do."-doubtless from many who've actually never done anything themselves.
Reading comments undercores the old saw, "no good deed goes unpunished".
Bottomline; 'Haters r gonna hate'.....
2
@DJS MD,JD - I've done things - like pay taxes to go to educating the generations who'll be paying in for our safety net withdrawals. I've donated to a few of the teacher's wishlist projects at DonorsChoose.
But every time I read about some really wealthy person using their money to play with the education system (or in Betsy DeVos' case, use family money to buy in to a position), I just keep wondering when we decide as a nation that we should better fund education from all of our taxes. I'd like my taxes increased if it means the next generations will be better able to handle the problems they'll face when it's their turn to run the place.
Stop funding local schools from local property taxes and allocate the money for public schools better. That a public school in a wealthy place can have the latest and greatest of everything, while nearby kids might be sharing textbooks is a crime.
I don't hate Bezos. He doesn't have to say he's giving the money. But how many of the extremely wealthy have been arguing against all the gifts their lobbying have been buying them on tax cuts, as the concentration of wealth keeps increasing?
6
@DJS MD,JD. It's not the bottomline, you hater. It's people responding with well thought-out and reasonable comments. I would like to suggest that once the NY Times close comments on this article, they then form a coalition of all the commenters, pick some leaders, and give Bezos money to them to figure out how to help our lame educational system.
1
What it comes down to is that increasingly rich people who think they know all the answers—Bill Gates is example No. 1—get to make public policy. That is inherently bad, good as some individual projects may be.
7
How about giving EVERY underachieving/learning
challenged student a private tutor to bring them up
to speed (grade level - reading, writing, math).
7
Sincere thanks to Jeff Bezos for his generous contribution to early childhood education.
I am disappointed to read the thoughtless, unenlightening and sometimes violent attacks from my friends on the Left.
I wish the New York Times would publish opinion and factual stories with more information and deeper analysis that could contribute positively to my understanding of this and other complicated and important issues.
5
@Kevin Keeker Don't be disappointed. Be happy that more and more people have the backbone to recognize that charity received from a man directly responsible for creating a massive and constant shortfall in public funding for a necessary societal function should not earn their gratitude. It should earn their contempt.
Bezos is trying to ameliorate one tiny aspect of a problem he personally played a massive and systematic role in creating.
6
Break up Amazon, break up their monopoly, force them to pay taxes, force them to pay workers a living wage.
They are a destructive force in this country, spreading poverty and requiring taxpayer largesse to feed and house their exploited workers, who need to be allowed to unionize and fight for dignity.
8
The Phony Philanthropists
Meanwhile, Bill Gates, the phony philanthropist, has a net worth of $97 billion up $10 billion from a year ago as he “gives away” his wealth to his phony Foundation, a private, nonprofit, tax exempt organization - not a charity- that he and his family controls.
$97 billion is enough money to feed every man, woman and child on the face of the earth (7 billion people) and have $20 billion leftover for his mansions, planes, cars, real estate and art collections.
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Warren Buffett phony philanthropists while men and women and children across the world starve and die and the phony International Rescue Committee asks for “donations” to feed and care for children of war torn countries across the world.
7
@Donald Matson
It would be different if our cultural distaste and suspicion for beauricracies and economic/capitalist values allowed for more prioritization and societal value for educating our future generation. If, as a society, we won’t take money away from programs to even the playing field or providing high quality basic goods and services to all children, then we open the door to needs that can only be met by those who benefit most from the system. I guess I’m thankful that some of them have a sense of social justice and care enough. No one is forcing them to part with their billions.
@Donald Matson and paying for these wars is one reason we cant afford to educate children properly
2
The donor class did not gain its riches and power through naivete. Their "gifts" fall somewhere between debt and equity in terms of the power reserved by the "donor." I just wish they would pay their fair share of taxes.
11
This article completely misses the point of educational gifts and charter experimentation. The goal is NOT primarily to make life better for the children who attend. The goal is to experiment with different choices, identify choices that spread superior results, and encourage the adoption of such choices. Public schools have proven themselves extremely poor at innovating. Its not that they don't try different things. But the scope of experimentation is small. Rich individuals are uniquely well situated to perform the difficult work of trying genuinely new approaches. It is very much to their credit that American innovators have figured this out for themselves and acted on it. 99 failed experiments and one giant success will result in far more impact than continuing the status quo.
4
@Jason- On the surface we are in agreement. Particularly, in regards to the frustrating innovative sclerosis in the world of public education. However, there is more to the equation regarding the ability of philanthropy to affect meaningful change in the lives of its subjects. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/opinion/sunday/wealth-philanthropy-fa...
4
@Jason Why would Jeff Bezos be able to run schools better than the people who have been working at it for years? The author correctly points out that his money would have more of an impact if he worked with Montessori schools that are already established rather than trying to create an entirely new set of schools. The amount of money and time wasted creating the administrative levels is the waste that is crushing education and health care. IF you are paying so much to the people in the middle, you are not spending it on the programs, the teachers or the kids.
9
@CA Dreamer its all about control ..if you lived near amazon headquarters you would have a better understanding of how jeff operates and you would be scared of this idea
A colleague of mine has worked hard on service learning classes and the big challenge for her students is always to come to see the people they work with as knowing their own situation better than the students do and having their own reasonable ideas about how to improve it, in other words, as Dr. Debs puts it, as collaborators rather than beneficiaries.
2
Jeff Bezos has made his offer and if what I read online is indication, many are in a stir.
I am learning about the striking differences in parental needs and desires for their children at school.
Whenever “needs and desires” arise I think about NonViolent Communication or as some call it Needs and Feelings Communication; 1) Say what you observe, 2) Say what you feel, 3) Say what you need, 4) Say what you would request. And then consider each point from another person’s viewpoint.
I wish for Montessori as well as other holistic pedagogues be shared more, for instance at public libraries, family-friendly, town events, school board meetings.
Speaking of other holistic pedagogues––I have read online the desire of others to be a part of the discussion and offer made by Bezos, saying that Montessori has many answers but not all! I wish we were in a time and place where all holistic pedagogues were at the table, communicating, sharing. Isn’t this a time when/where we are shown what Peace looks like? Working together, sharing ideas, listening, partnering?
Recommending the following sites.
1. Riane Eisler and the Center for Partnerships
2. Meetings with Remarkable Educators
3
If people are unhappy with the economic process that made Bezos rich, then change it. Please stop whining. Changing the economic philosophy of America is not his responsibility. Perhaps if he were President, it would be different. People should welcome his interest in education and offer some of their own thoughtful considerations. There are several socioeconomic philosophies, traditional, command, and market. Traditional resists change, preferring the status quo, often for centuries. Command is the boldest and shortest path to reform. It is the most risky. Organized Projectors and Undertakers build roads and move mountains. Markets evolve, change is both constant and gradual and least disruptive, most of the time. Exceptional men often assume command and create the future. They sail off into the unknown. Ordinary men live lives of quiet desperation, preferring to whine about the unfairness of it all.
3
I recently met a man who worked in an Amazon distribution center. The pay was lousy, the pace grueling. The woman next to him was injured on the job, lifting and lifting, and Amazon fought tooth and nail to keep her from getting temporary disability/workers' compensation benefits. I'm not interested in anything Bezos has to say. He has stolen more from his workers than he will ever repay with his little charitable contributions.
16
@Martha Shelley
And by forcing his workers to depend on food stamps, etc., he has stolen millions from the taxpayer. Steal a loaf of bread, go to prison; steal $157 billion, call yourself a philanthropist.
8
I wouldn't presume to advise anyone on how to donate their money. Nor am I an expert on early childhood education. What I can say, though, is that $2BN is an extraordinarily huge gift that if deployed sensibly can help a lot of children learn and develop skills and habits that will help them later in life. This amount of money, remember, is comparable to the endowment of large research university.
3
Another example of the billionaire boys club whimsically substituting their own intuitions for democratic dialog about education and how it might better serve the disadvantaged (see Diane Ravitch's Death and Life of the American School System). Their efforts are the more humanitarian flip side of Trump's wall: symbolic, simplistic, fiscally wasteful, and likely to be ineffective (as has already been shown of Gates' and Zuckerberg's forays into education). It further demonstrates that a byproduct of business acumen leading to the fortuitous accumulation of vast wealth is a depressingly naive hubris.
19
The question I have is ... Who do we want running the country?
The über wealthy and mega corporations do not pay their fair share of taxes and are becoming so powerful that our government can not or will not regulate them. They now can pay for projects that affect the entire country. They often use these "good works" to clean up their legacy. I call this "legacy laundering".
We the "people" have no say...We did not vote for their projects or for the people that run them. This country is supposed to be a democracy it is not supposed to be run by the rich and mega corporations.
Our government should be properly funded and should answer to the "people".
21
So many comments that reflect only the writer's POV about this subject of pedagogy. Montessori schools have mostly positive outcomes for their students, but no program or school can deliver only positive outcomes to all. And lots of invective to Bezos for making all that moola and his poor treatment, according to many, of his emloyees. I can only add to this noise that we need to improve our tax structure to ensure the wealthy pay more of their "fair' share toward the general good, that workers receive good salaries in order to live satisfactory lives, and Betsy DeVos be replaced immediately with someone who treasures the idea of good public education for all. This may include Montessori schools, or other examples of success for students. We leave education to the states, and that is a large part of the problem. Poor districts in poor states are behind before they've begun.
8
@Katalina. No one is forced to work at Amazon. We love it
1
Before we laud Mr. Bezos for his generosity, we should all read “Winners Take All.” It is the system that is the problem and no amount of philanthropy from the elite will have long lasting effect unless the system they used to become billionaires is changed.
17
Maybe the very best thing Bezos can do is assure that his very own employees—- his very own employees— have the opportunity to parent their very own children. Full time when very young and later, without undue economic stresses.
In our time, the hopelessness and chaos that the lower wage earners experience takes a huge toll of families. And therefore the children. And therefore, of course, their education.
The very best thing Bezos can do is all he can to assure that his very own employees do not experience this stress, and that their children can grow up knowing that they are safe, cared for and loved.
This perspective isn’t so flashy but charity does begin at home. Otherwise it’s just a show.
29
@Joan
Well said, and thank you.
2
jeff is worth over $150 billion---with this obscene wealth, he should be donating a lot more than $2 billion!
10
After 20 years in the preK-12 education industry, I threw up my hands. So many good intentions, and yet so much money wasted. So many brilliant, devoted people, and yet so much greed hiding behind those good intentions. It's a mess out there, folks. And, no, the world does not need more education nonprofits. The wheel does not need to be reinvented again.
11
i taught in a school district for 16 years with over 80% poverty rate. it not the kids; it's the careless parents that take more time choosing where to buy cigarettes then they do helping on homework.; the unions that protect utterly incompetent teachers from accountability; the principal's that ALWAYS come from the ranks of teachers that are unprepared to manage personnel - and lack either the carrot or stick even if they tried. which most don't.
and it sure isn't money - the u.s. spends more per student than any country in the world - and does that in fewer instructional days.
hire principal's that are trained to manage personnel - not just students. incentivize teachers. and put a stop to pay and protection based on length of service. it's a start.
7
@pierre You are partially correct, but also woefully misguided. Those bad parents often had bad parents, and terrible childhoods filled with loss and addiction, so it is unfair to simply castigate them for their role. Those unions very, very often protect great teachers from awful administrators who have an ax to grind, or are singling out teachers over personal conflicts or petty issues.. Of course those Principals SHOULD be former teachers. You want a general who hasn't fired a gun leading your military?
You are painting in overly broad brush strokes. But It's a complicated situation, and you can't do that.
1
@Jim - thanks for your thoughts jim.
real quick - we DO have people leading the military that have never fired a gun - it's called the president. and every industry has managers that grind axes and have personality issues - why should education be different? my point is principals are totally unprepared to handle personnel issues because very few of them have ever managed anyone. the result is a lack of understanding of any point of view except from that of the teacher. and just because someone was "raised" by a bad parent should not provide a built in excuse to abdicate parental responsibility for your child's education. thank you.
Thank you. Many of these commenters are clueless about the mess of the public school system. They’re steeped in ideology and ignorant of reality. They even have fundamental facts wrong—-like that spending is NOT the problem!
I think I might cal this "Haiti Syndrome". As part of our international volunteer medical work, we travel to places like Haiti to help well-established organizations with what their needs are. 99% of groups don't do that: they want to go to Haiti (or the Skid Row of Seattle) and build what their brain thinks is what is needed It always fails. The problem is that the personality traits that produce the new bred of high-tech billionaires have a different irking in their heads. They therefore think that by being successful disruptors in online sales, storage, or artistic flamethrowers, that they can disrupt the center-old challenges of homelessness and early education. too bad he did not talk to homeless and education leaders and ash how he could help.
17
Montessori is a philosophy and educational theory made a female doctor.
Amazon is a brand and a capatilist.
DO NOT CONFUSE THE TWO
7
While Bezos and other biilionaire Democrats spend money on these pet projects or invest in other companies, Republican billionaires are buying up media outlets, pushing their right wing agenda further on, and the gullible stupid public are being slowly brainwashed into believing their garbage. Up next: Social Security and Medicare will be stripped bare. The brainwashed public will accept it as a necessity. Time for Buffet, Bezoz and Gates to start buying media outlets big time, not just one newspaper.
10
Lou. I agree with you but we deserve what we get. We need sixties style uprisings before the police state both literally and figuratively handcuff us all.
Wait a minute -- you mean Jeff Bezos, the apostle of evil, is going to do something good? What is this world coming to?
2
To answer the headline: Pay his workers, and his taxes—which includes stopping and apologizing for the HQ2 Tax Obliteration Contest.
World's Wealthiest Miser is an easy title. Honest American Citizen is tougher.
37
Look Ms. Debs, after you -create- the number of jobs that Mr Bezos has, you can use words like "should".
Till then, you need to use the word "suggest".
1
How should Jeff Bezos spend his money?
How ever he wants. It's his. Now keep your grubby little hands off of it.
5
You wiffed it Jeff Bezos. Lets look educationally forward rather than into a deep seated past. Loris Malaguzzi, The Hundred Languages of Children and the Reggio Approach is vastly more in tune with how children learn today. Look around your office and ask the parents who work for you how do their children learn and retain knowledge you may be somewhat surprised.
5
Overall, pretty negative comments about Bezos and Amazon. My question to everyone who posted: Do you have an Amazon Prime account? I do not and try to avoid ordering from Amazon unless there is no other option. I go directly to a store's own website. More people should cut their Amazon cord if they feel Amazon is predatory (it is), undercutting businesses in our communities to put them under (it does), underpaying workers (it does) and on a mission to control every single $ in the logistics chain that delivers that package to your door.
9
@Susan Where I grew up, when I grew up, in rural Illinois, my dad had the car; my mom had us 5 kids miles from any local shops (which were out of our price range anyway for school shoes, snow shovels, washing machines, garden tools, etc.). The "amazon" of that day was the Sears Roebuck catalog. Literally everything my mom did not sew for us to wear, came from Sears. Nobody then ranted about the "evils" of the Sears catalog. So I really do not understand the acidic hatred for Bezos and Amazon that I see in all these comments. Amazon just seems like an updated version of Sears. And by the way, I still have some of the Craftsman tools that were my dad's, 60 years old and still do the job.
3
Cheers for Jeff Bezos. By funding Montessori preschools he is already funding the tried and true. Why does he have to fund within an existing network? If more funders, like Bezos, looked outside the established networks for good programs perhaps we would leave all the "------------ comlexes" behind. And that would be a blessing. This is America. We came into being in the face of Old World condemnation. Are we now the Old World with our self-limiting bureaucracies, modes of operation and suspicion of the New? Montessori is not new. It is a miracle that endures. If this funding is an example of Bezos's thinking, then CHEERS! Bring it on!
2
*ttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2001-05-20/commentary-sorry-steve-heres-why-apple-stores-wont-work
“...New retail outlets aren't going to fix Apple's sales...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2015/04/08/why-the-experts-fai...
“...experts missed the greatest retail success of the last 15 years because they asked the wrong questions and made the wrong comparisons...While analysts were asking how many boxes would Apple have to move to raise its market share, Apple leaders were asking, “How do we enrich lives?”...
Note: first Apple store located in McLean VA...
.....
What WaPo had to say – six years before Bezos acquired it...
*ttps://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2007/01/02/montessori-now-100-goes-mainstream [incomplete URL]
“...Arlington County, one of the first places in the country to establish tax-supported Montessori schools, has 17 preschool Montessori classes in 10 elementary schools and a program...Drew Model School that goes through fifth grade...
“...Above all, Montessori was practical. She looked for what worked rather than what fit a theory. "If schooling were evidence-based," Lillard wrote, "I think all schools would look a lot more like Montessori schools...
Note: Arlington VA next to McLean VA
PS
Using evidence-based Montessori methods learned in Arlington and [redacted] methods learned in McLean, my AI Bot just overheated – after signing off...
#hqtoo
PPS
Every Cloud has a Silver Line...
3
We should tax the hell out of Bezos.
11
As a long time head of a school and author, I find the focus on Montessori irrelevant and distracting. Maria Montessori was one among a number of prescient education theorists and psychologists who understood and promulgated a more human, play-based, developmental approach to learning. Her insights were helpful, but her methodology can be stifling and rigid.
She also would roll over in her grave at some of the schools using her name.
The focus on Montessori is a gimmick, not a solution. Thousands of wonderful early childhood educators across America are struggling to sustain their schools in a culture gone mad with metrics, testing and rigid conformity.
The real problem, which the author neglects to mention, is that this kind of directed philanthropy mistakes charity for justice. Whether well-intended or not, a plutocrat like Bezos should not be in a position to wield his power/money to direct any aspect of education. Gates, Zuckerberg and Bezos are doing more to harm the social fabric of America than they are strengthening it. Among other things, the hype around their philanthropy makes it easier - much easier - for politicians and naive citizens to avoid the kind of progressive tax policies that would fund our public education system properly.
http://garnpress.com/books/first-no-harm/
16
I question your knowledge. You say Montessori is play-based. It is not. Then you say it is rigid. That is subjective; nonetheless, play-based and rigid are generally antithetical.
If I had the resources of Mr. Bezos, I too would follow the author's
advice and fund existing networks of preschools. I would go
further, however. All schooling in our country, from infancy through
secondary levels should be a public responsibility. Education has
turned out to be vastly more important to sustaining democracy
that its founders could have imagined. Therefore we need to find
ways to raise the quality of public schools to the level of
private schools. After all, rich people -- the only ones who have
true freedom of school choice -- have set obvious benchmarks.
Then we should effectively merge private schools into the public
systems by taxing rich people to pay for the public schools that
would by then meet their standards. Mr. Bezos, through pilot
projects, think tanks and political advocacy could get us well
down the road toward accomplishing this.
1
@Charles Packer. Private schools are not about higher standards but preserving the ruling class.
7
@Charles PackerLet's not assume that private schools are better than public schools. They aren't.
2
@David S - Private schools not only preserve
the ruling class, but provide elite teenagers access to alcohol, drug, and sex predator
parties.
If I were a gazillionaire looking to help education in America, I would advocate for job flexibility/parental leave programs. I hate the assumption that all human beings should dump their babies with paid childcare providers. The idea is that those largely undereducated low-wage workers will provide a more enriching environment to those children than their parents? That parents (mothers especially) are better off slaving for their own wages than caring for their own children? Passing along culture, language, and physical nourishment to the next generation, creating life experiences... these are good for parents and children. Being able to downshift in a career without having to give it up entirely and thus relinquishing all opportunity to make “adult” “professional” contributions to society... that would be excellent!
9
What about being not charitable but regular human to his employees and paying them a living wage ?
85
@Walter Drongen
Yes, as Marina Hyde put it so well:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/14/jeff-bezos-low-inc...
1
@Walter Drongen
Billionaires are ego-driven narcissists. You don't get your name in big flashing lights by paying your fair share of taxes or by paying your employees a living wage. That's for unsung heroes, not the likes of Jeff Bezos. Also, Montessori is sexy, unlike public and urban schools, public libraries, and programs for disabled kids. Private money marks power and prestige. That's why we need the government funding education initiatives for ordinary people, funded by tax dollars from the People, not from ephemeral and whimsical investors like Bezos, Gates, or Zuckerberg. They should pay their taxes and then the rest of us, with actual life experience in the trenches, can make the decisions for our children via elections.
1
If only we properly funded our education system in this country, instead of relying on the whims of tycoons.
This is just public relations cake frosting dolloped on to the new gilded age that is killing our middle class. I'm sick of this. Enough is enough. We need a United States that works for the American people again.
7
Dr.Marie Montessori was a single female practitioner who was allowed to test her theories of child development on Italy's "slow" and poor children. Her success in the "Casa Bambinos" was seen as nothing short of a miracle. As do many of today's high quality programs with poor (often black) children. Ironically, (and typically) what was good for the poor has today been scooped up by the wealthy in today's Montessori Schools.
But in 1966 the Cincinnati Montessori Society funded a Montessori Head Start program in the Findlay St. Neighborhood House. (during the height of the city's racial conflict).
Educators have long known that class divide and education determine children's futures.
5
The 2 billion should have been paid as taxes. These CEO billionaires are NOT heroes and they need to pay their fair share of taxes. THAT would be a far greater benefit to our country and the world than these pet projects.
I'm sick of this corporatocracy and the corporate overlords operating as a shadow government within in our democracy, promising to spend their obscene wealth on pet community projects, which have no oversight, standards or future beyond the flimsy promote at of a marketing campaign designed to blind people to the fact that these corporations (and the CEO/shareholders) are really hurting our society.
Corporations of every stripe -- tech, Healthcare, churches, banks, real estate... -- have lobbied for decades to dismantle the institutions, order of law and checks and balances of our democracy. They have bought politicians who in turn have handed them everything they want. They have abused their power and stolen wages, lives and retirement from 90% of us. They have stolen taxpayer money from local, state, federal levels (via tax breaks, exemptions) and destroyed the regulations, unions, wages and benefits that give us public services, clean water and safe food, and had kept our middle class and this country healthy and strong. For what? So that half of 1% of these people can amass billions of personal wealth.
Bezos (and his ilk) is no friend of America and he is certainly no hero.
5
Perhaps Bezos should demand that he and his fellow billionaires pay their fair share of taxes. Next he should pay his workers a living wage. The workers should also he treated humanly by not making them pee in bottles because they are not allowed enough break time and are docked or fired for not taking a bathroom fast enough in a large warehouse. Amazon is also slow to add safety equipment to help their workers. Also in Seattle he pushed back heavily on helping fund homeless remedies.
Perhaps with his fellow billionaires they should push for proper funding of public schools and decent teacher pay. He could end Homelessness by paying $20 billion a year with his fellow billionaires. Bezos is worth $158 billion, built on a scam of overworking workers, by undercutting other business’s at a loss, creating monopolies and avoiding taxes.
Frankly I do not trust Bezos, and see these new homeless and school funding efforts as possible ways for him to make more money for himself. He is a sociopath and only cares about himself. I need to see the small print on what he is offering.
12
How nice of Mr. Bezos to support this.
However, perhaps he could give some thought about the pay rates in his Dickensian factories (that is what they are), the working conditions and wage rates that he pays his employees, and the benefits that he does not pay.
Perhaps he could travel and actually look at the seniors and other marginalised people who show up in their broken down vehicles parked at the back of the warehouse for the Christmas rush... or the young people.
Perhaps he should give some consideration to the taxes that his corporation does not pay in the countries that his corporation demands concessions from when setting up new factories.
Perhaps he could give some consideration to the tax avoidance schemes that Amazon has done all over the world.
Sorry, Jeff. You are not a good guy despite your veneration of your preschool teachers. I don't think you remember those lessons very well. They were good ones too.
Have you figured out where you will pay the least taxes, and get the most concessions for your next giant warehouse in North America yet? We wait with bated breath. You had a big contest and made a big deal out of that.
I hope you don't come to my place. No thanks.
7
Jeff Bezos should pay his taxes. Half my salary goes on taxes, and I don't have much left to live on. He wouldn't miss half his salary. Jeff Bezos should pay his employees a living wage. He should obey all OSHA rules for employee health and safety and let them have bathroom breaks and work 8 hour days. He should provide safe trucks for his delivery people. Bezos should stop overcharging his customers at Whole Foods aka Whole Paycheck. What he does with the rest of his money? I don't care. Just pay your taxes and pay your employees. Stop exploiting people. And stop expecting us to subsidize you with our tax dollars. Otherwise your "charity" is just an empty gesture. It's stolen money.
8
Let’s get this straight, no one, no one deserves this amount of money. Particularly when you run a corporate feudal state that should be shut down. Pays no taxes, takes no responsibility for his employees. So american.
No people, pay the share for a civilization. Is Jeff going to bring his own road with him when he drives?
This kind of ‘philanthropy is only self aggrandizement.
7
@Dwight McFee
LOVED your comment about Bezos paying for his own road when he drives. LOL
US taxes paid for most of the roads he drives on, and all the rest of us too.
1
My mother, like many of us, loved to read the society pages of the newspaper, with stories and pictures of the glitterati. Often, the articles would mention the donations the rich and famous were giving to whatever event was being chronicled. My mom would remind me "But how many of them [donations] do they [the charity] get that are anonymous?"
2
If Bezos wants to help schools he should pay his taxes and raise salaries at Amazon.
9
The author of this opinion piece clearly misses the point when she suggests that Jeff Bezos should invest in educational systems that already exist.
People like Bezos never subscribe to other people's systems. That is simply not how they are wired. They create their own systems.
They see themselves as intellectually above others and their success is a testament to themselves. It's the narcissist in all successful CEOs that carry them out of bed each day...
4
Pulease. Suggest or recommend, instead of telling him what to do. It's his money. He can spend it as he pleases.
Hey here is an IDEA for BEZOS. Pay your workers the extra wages they are owed. Take the 2 billion and back pay the people you explioted to become the richest person. Leave our children alone.
12
It sounds pathetic to me that the world's richest man by far ($158 billion as of today), one who has benefited lavishly from Donald Trump's transfer of resources from the poor to the wealthy, finally donates a niggardly $2 billion for two causes put together: homeless people and education. I would much rather he also announce, in addition to this gift, that he is raising the salaries of his poorest employees by 20 percent, and that he will fund better conditions for all the world's refugees, as well as organizations that work for peace, and those like Doctors Without Borders.
As a writer who has published with Amazon and seen his royalty income drop by 90 percent over 7 years, I would also hope that he relaxes the monopolistic policies of Amazon towards those who publish on its platform. A near-monopolist has a special need to be fair to the authors who helped expand his customer base to the point where he does not need to profit from them.
13
It’s his money and it’s his business where it’s deplyed, it’s that simple. We may have our opinions, but the decision is his,
No one here is donating like this so let’s keep the criticism to a minimum unless you’re stepping up with a billion dollar donations too.
1
What a joke, at the same time as he is talking about a charitable foundation he is pursuing the goal of replacing the last mile delivery people with independent contractors, with no benefits and reduced pay. Getting your employees off Medicaid and food stamps should be a higher goal than establishing charities.
15
I never could understand how people who make ungodly amounts of money by taking advantage of worker productivity and holding those workers down, then become philanthropists who are to be applauded. If Mr. Bezos had lifted the living standards of his workers, would that not also help their children? The reason many of these low income people need educational help for their children is because they cannot afford it. In a sense Bezos created the need hbe now wants credit for addressing. He did not suddenly come into all this money. He has been making it and compounding it for years. Why does he wait until he reaches $50 billion before deciding it is safe to give some of it away? Um, giving away $2 Billion still leaves him stinking, filthy rich. It is no skin off his teeth to give that away. It is the equivalent of a person making $100,000 giving away $4,000. Once. Bezos is not going to see his riches decline, only grow. So here's my suggestion: Take say $10 billion and put it into a money market account and live off the interest and dividends. And put the rest into a charitable trust that will give away lots of money to charities every year for a long time. And shut up about it. You are only doing what you should be doing. People every day give money away that is a sacrifice. Don't try and get all the kudos for something you should have been doing all along and that doesn't hurt you in the least.
6
Bezos, like all wealthy people with power, has a big ego and is a control freak. He wants to do it his way, whatever the mission. He can’t trust other people, even experts, with his money.
He has proven that he can’t trust his employees with his money, since he so grossly underpays and overworks them, they need government assistance to survive. This gives Republicans grist for their mill that the unworthy and lazy don’t deserve food stamps and Medicaid.
Mr. Bezos would do much more good by raising salaries, supplying health care and retirement benefits to his employees.
5
My, aren't we smart. Let me tell you how to spend your money Mr. Bezsos because we know best. If we are so smart, why are we $21 Trillion in debt? Maybe we should practice what we preach? Maybe since this is his money we should let him decide and be quiet. He's the billionaire. I have a feeling he knows what to do and where to invest his money.
How incredibly presumptuous of us. America is the land of the overdeveloped sense of entitlement.
@Boz
Of course Mr. Bezos knows more about childhood education than professional educators who have dedicated their lives to children. How is this possible? Just look at Bezos' net worth. He's the world's richest man--ergo he's the best/smartest--he knows more about anything than anyone else.
So...when you need that triple-bypass, be sure to insist that Bezos is your surgeon.
Let Jeff B do what he wants and learn from it. It is his money.
@DL Certainly but the rest of us don’t have to allow our kids to be his guinea pigs.
1
If your kid is in public school, use the existing governance to refuse the money. If your private school takes the money, find another school. If the foundation starts a new school, do not enroll your kid. No one’s child will be an unwilling guinea pig.
The author is a perfect example of a progressive: an expert at spending other people's money.
Mr Bezos will recognize that like everything in the world - educational markets will focus and direct spending - the technocrats like Ms. Debs who know everything about allocating resources will join the Tyrannosaurus Rex as an extinct species who simply could not adapt to a market-based approach to education.
The first step for every educator is admitting that what they are currently doing is failing and doing more of the same will simply lead to a higher volume of failing.
2
My children attended a public Montessori school in NC, it doesn't have to be exclusive.
Ps. Why is it any of our business how mr bezos gives away his money?
1
Jeff Bezos should not control this kind of money to throw around based on his personal whims.
“We the people” created this wealth and we should control it through our elected reps.
This is the full fruit of the “Age of Reagan.” We now have a new class of Rober Barons.
Let’s return to the Age of Roosevelt and end economic inequality.
The Rober Barons should be taxed at the old Eisenhower 90% marginal rate and the people should decide how to best use this wealth.
Elon Musk should not have the money to hurl junk into space to advertise his private company.
This is disgusting.
8
Billionaires' money, whatever amount or well intended, cannot replace government for true reform.
Public relation stunts are a poor substitute for electing better people.
5
You're right, this is a gravy train that the professional parasite class will be jostling to get on. We saw the same thing with Hillary's billion dollar campaign to nowhere; armies of consultants billing by the hour, all completely indifferent to the outcome so long as the cash keeps flowing.
1
@stan continople
one reason why Hillary didn't get the level of votes she needed--distaste for her jobs program foundation.
I hope that Jeff Bezoa finds a way to support Public Schools.
2
Jeff Bezos, and the rest of the trillionaires, should spend his money on taxes like the rest of us.
58
@rwp
Jeff Bezos still only has about one-sixth of a trillion dollars. The first trillionaires will probably invest in asteroid mining. That's actually part of Bezos' interest in space. He's getting there ... and not paying his fair share of taxes or his employees living wages gets him there faster. Billionaires want to appear to help others, or maybe actually think they are helping others, but they're not into altruism, or they wouldn't have billions of dollars. They're into themselves. And they like to surround themselves with people who tell them what they like to hear. These are the reasons Gates and Zuckerberg are failing in the education sphere, and Bezos is right behind them.
We need to change the way we tax the rich. Last year, Bezos' wealth increased by close to 75 billion dollars. He paid no taxes on that increased in wealth. I earned 110 thousand and paid 40% or 41 thousand in taxes. It is absurd that Bezos is talking about "donating" money to "charity" where he determines how the money is spend when middle class Americans are taxed to pay for programs they have no control over. Some of those programs are social programs for Bezos' employees who qualify for food stamps and housing assistance. My understanding is, if he donates stock which increased in value, he gets credit for charity on the current value of the stock and never has to pay capital gains taxes on its increased value. He avoids paying taxes and gets to decide how the money is spent. It is amazing how we don't hear any Progressive or Socialist Democrats complaining about this.
8
That tax rule came from development offices of universities that love to turn out your Democrats and Progressives. If you are an alumni of certain age, you get the process explained to you via mail at least twice a year.
An excellent analysis of public policy concerns about the "charitable-industrial complex" is available in Anand Giridharadas' new book, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. The bottom line is that even very substantial amounts of charitable giving can never lead to solutions at scale to our most pressing social issues. One of countless examples: it is well understood when foundations and wealthy individuals fund efforts to reduce child poverty they do not intend to focus attention on removing the fundamental economic causes of child poverty and do something substantial about the massive and immoral abdication of governmental responsibly for eradicating it. How do we know this? Among many other sources, a 28 June 2017 article by Charlotte Edmond, published by the World Economic Forum, indicates the United States was 35th of 41 developed nations in achieving the eradication of child poverty.
1
@tobin
That is not the point. The point is that the billionaire 0.01% owns 90% of the world's wealth, they are NOT paying their fair share of taxes (among myriad other abuses and twists of power), and they are using their money /power to influence policy and create pet projects that benefit a tiny portion of very poor people. If he (and his kind) had paid $2B in taxes instead, if he had paid is employees livable wages and benefits, if billionaires and corporations were not allowed to throw money at politicians, then our democracy would be healthy and working for ALL of us, not just the 1%.
41
@Humble Beast ... Word.
2
Bezos has created 840 billion dollars of worth for the pension funds, endowment funds, etc of the world
Yep -- a bad guy
If there were more justice there'd be less need for charities.
We need employers to pay a living wage and all of us to pay taxes based on a progressives system of taxation.
52
Dr. Maria Montessori observed the poor children of Rome to see how they learned and learned from each other. She was trained as a scientist, a doctor, not as an educator of her time. She had been asked to do this because the children were considered uneducable, as I recall.
The learning methods emphasize hands-on structured learning, helping children to discover for themselves the principles of math and language in multi-age classrooms. The 3-5 year olds learn from their peers and as they advance can help to mentor others.
As the children grow older, they work together, learning time management in the 6-8 year old groups and about the Great Lessons, the broad context of all they will learn. The 9-11 year olds present the origin of the universe and solar system, the coming of life, the coming of man and development of language and mathematics. I interviewed a former student, then at a major university and she remembered fondly these presentations as she pursued a degree in science.
Each morning I helped greet the children with a handshake as they arrived. The little ones were literally skipping down the hall as they arrived after summer vacation! There is no homework or tests but parents come in to discuss their child’s progress.
These are the things I remember from my time as an admissions director at a local Montessori school.
14
Delivering high quality education used to be the government's job using our tax dollars in a way that benefits large numbers of people.
Now our tax money is funneled upwards to the 0.01% in a myriad of ways, and we must hold out our little bowls like Oliver Twist and hope that some beneficent billionaire will bestow a few crumbs upon us.
46
@Pat
Exactly.
This comment should be a NYT Pick.
In our discussions of "preschool" lets not blur the line between pre-school and daycare. Early care is not pre-school, it is post- birth-- and no institution is as good as a Mom who has sensitivity and is attuned to her baby for post birth education, which revolves on a secure attachment with a primary caregiver who is almost always at your side.
I attended Montessori in the early 60's and loved it. But what will help kids is better parenting. I am glad my mom was an anthropologist, and knew no program could beat her early care.
9
Mr Bezos has created one of the most significant companies in the country's history, if not the world's. He has created millions of jobs the heretofore not exist. His business model has had the effect of lowering prices for everyone in America. No one is forced to work for Amazon nor to buy from Amazon --- however, we are all the better for it's existence. Period.
The presumption of taking to task ~~ let's be kinder and say suggesting ~~ to a man with the brilliance to CREATE this company in less 25 years ~~ is disingenuous and self defeating.
I humbly think that he most likely knows what he is doing more than any of us might even imagine of ourselves.
Fund failing programs or focus on creating positive energy?
Scream at the ultra rich for creating jobs, the growth pension funds and then scream at them for giving back! Gates has saved millions of lives, fed millions more ~~ and you all have a problem?
My word.
2
Created millions of jobs? Also destroyed millions of jobs.
And beware the trap of assuming success in one domain implies expertise and wisdom in other domains.
28
@tobin Amazon makes its money ( and undercuts competitors ) because its workers are ....taxpayer subsidized: food stamps for sure and now the ice-to-the-bottom competition for cities to host the second HQ of Amazon. He benefits from corporate welfare. Now he gives table scraps back for another ego-trip program.
Higher salaries for teachers. Money for better buildings and teaching supplies. Allow teachers to teach. How hard is this?
13
It would be nice if someone argued for the middle class fkr knce in one of these prices. Too rich for aid, too poor to afford it on their own. Every week I read about a myriad of programs designed for the poor that either don't do much, or help a handful of kids. No one ever says jack about the middle class. Do we need affordable housing for a person flipping burgers? Maybe. Dknwe need workforce housing for a teacher? Absolutely. Same goes for preschool. Why keep more productive parents (teachers, nurses,10 police, etc.) home because of the cost but make it easier for a cashier to do so?
1
Money is powerless to resolve societal problems — it needs to be accompanied by a coherent critique, a galvanizing definition of the future, and full participation.
3
Bezos is a grand 'joke' inflicted on humankind. Garnering a staggering ~$150 billion dollars through the consumptive and biosphere degrading Amazon. com, he seems to be completely devoid of the manifold ways in which his 'enterprise' is compromising and de-valuing the human prospect. The mega-wealthy are much the same, commandeer an amount of money totally out of proportion to the amount of money earned by most people across Earth. Speak, or have his minions speak, of the importance of Amazon.com to the importance of the human endeavor and similar endeavors, are somehow embellishing the human condition, and hope for the future. Eventually the Jeff Bizos of our world will disappear under cover of a gaining human population for which Earth resources will prove entirely inadequate to feed, cloth, house and provide gainful employment. Time must have a stop.
3
The point about not spreading resources too thin is a good one. But since Jeff Bezos has revolutionized so many industries with his new, innovative thinking, it would probably be beneficial to let him set up and control the new Montessori initiative. I hope he gets into to medical care soon. We can use a lot of help there too.
9
I've been an educator for 4 decades. I've attended the poorest, segregated schools and the most elite. I helped start a community charter school and afterschool programs, where poor children's God-given intelligence is respected, lifelong love of learning and developing their gifts are encouraged.
Most people have never heard of our school or of undoubtedly tens of thousands of educators like me, who defy stereotypes and help produce contributors to society who make a difference in communities where we live, through our churches, and other community institutions and in our daily lives.
These critics of Mr Bezos' proposals seem frustrated by the obvious contradictions in his ultra wealth, earned on the backs of minimum wage packers and on invading the privacy of unsuspecting millions.
We all can benefit if we step back and acknowledge that we all have advantages that we did not legitimately earn. Our job is to try to make restitution where we can, by giving back and trying to root out the evil in systems, even those that have benefitted us.
Bezos, be humble, but keep trying to get it right. Professor, keep trying to support good grassroots efforts, but be humble. There are enough ordinary people who can put resources together to resolve the problems in our orbits. Seeking a human savior is a vain hope. As a Christian, and descendant of enslaved people, I know there already is a Savior. Change comes as we pull together and attack the evil in our midst, not one another.
12
Bezo’s gift, though a gesture of charity, is another example of how the ultra rich have a more than outsized voice in decision making that should be the province of the electorate. Note how Bill Gates has been able to skew policy in education by stepping over and pushing aside school boards and trained educators to experiment on a grand scale. That the author of the piece should go begging is an indication of how tax initiatives have starved our social programs. These businesses, which profit from publicly held resources (think air quality, government built and maintained roads) should be taxed accordingly and the decision making around social supports should be duly overseen by the public watchdogs. Who will monitor Bezos?
19
Let's see -- trust the DOE -- trust local boards who have lost their monopoly on education to charters because of poor performance and struggling students -- or trust Bezos or Gates.
Really?
1
@tobin As a teacher, I lived through the disastrous small schools idea thought up by Bill Gates. Even he admitted it was a failure. The next great idea backed by Gates (and the testing companies) was the common core. Another disaster. The entire school year is now devoted to preparing for the test.
First, I find it hard to find fault in a rich person’s plan to donate $2 billion of his own money to support homeless families and create a network of free Montessori-inspired preschools. Second, I get that he’d rather initiate his own network than add funds to existing, established (but underfunded) networks. The very point of a philanthropic program like Bezos’ is to create something new - in this case, a new delivery system for an established consumer “product”. That’s what Amazon does; that’s what he knows. This is a model that has worked in the past - free public libraries? - and it may work again. Or it may not. Point is, he’s adding something very significant to the education marketplace of ideas, which is valuable in it’s own right. That the program will provide direct benefits to thousands or more underserved kids is beyond dispute, so on that score alone, it deserves our suppport.
11
I commend Mr Bezos for recognizing the educational needs of the youngest in our country. Working at a front desk at a local municipality, I accept deliveries from Fed Ex, UPS, and Amazon Flex and the USPS. I tend to always chat a bit and know the differences in hours and benefits amongst the drivers. It’s time to bring the wages and benefits of Amazon drivers up to the other delivery services. They have families too, many work multiple jobs. The flex part of their job title is deceiving. The majority of Amazon Flex drivers need and want full-time jobs that include benefits. This would bring many working poor families into the middle class, able to send their children to preschool etc.
27
It's time to tell Amazon to raise wages? This is their decision -- people can work for UPS instead if they wish.
1
Whenever anyone is spending a lot of their own money, there are always those who are happy to tell them how to spend it.
While you may not like Amazon, you have to agree that it is able to deliver products and services efficiently and cost effectively to the consumer. Perhaps Bezos thinks that he can deliver charitable services more effectively and effectively than the existing service providers of similar services.
7
Preschool education for those children from the lower SES has historically not had good longterm outcomes. Advances wash out after a few years. BUT, this data base relates to Head Start. For those, like a Vox article criticizing Bezos, they should do their homework on Montessori which is far superior to the Head Start programs. My early professional years were dedicated to early childhood education. I can say with certainty that that any well conceived teaching methodology is only as good as the teacher and the beaucracy, namely principals. Big bold efforts are doomed to poor outcomes if personnel do not meet high standards. Teaching candidates must be screened and well trained before entering the classroom as a qualified teacher as well as for the duration of teaching. Bezos has chosen an exemplary methodology that has the potential to improve the lives of young children. However, to ignore the reasons that past progressive efforts have failed will confirm the adage,"the more things change, the more things stay the same." Ultimately it may be about decent teacher salaries in order to attract and retain better and the best teachers. Sound familiar? I’ve been away from research circles but I know they have a wealth of expertise. Yale and Peabody College of Vanderbilt were among the best.
11
Bill Gates*, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs (previously), and Jeff Bezos have made a bigger mess of our world. Their products are dubiously conceived, hastily developed without forethought, riddled with problems, often dangerously so, use up tremendous amounts of our resources (including low paid workers) and are unfortunately ubiquitous.
They can throw all of the money in the world at any problem, but their cover the earth with junk strategy has caused more problems than they can ever make up for.
If people want to make money and products in ethical ways, I'm all for it. Modernity, with all of its problems and hopes, can be well served this way, but it takes grown-up men and women with real character and genuine vision to bring this about.
*And, how did Warren Buffett make his money? Coca-Cola had a large part...
11
@GreenSpirit
You indict too much, I think. There plenty of reasons to be angry with and suspect of how billionaires handle their money, but supporting schools is not one of them. All of their strategies are not junk, even if they and others overestimate their own wisdom simply because of their money. There are some parallels between what Bezos is doing and what Julius Rosenwald, an early leader of the then far more influential Sears, Roebuck & Co., had done in terms of building 5300 schools for blacks in the South: https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/29/opinions/jeff-bezos-philanthropy-opinion-... .
Rosenwald knew that money did not equate with brains: “I never could understand the popular belief that because a man makes a lot of money he has a lot of brains. Some very rich men who made their fortunes have been among the stupidest men I have ever met.”
1
No one who is obscenely wealthy has "earned" their money. No one who is obscenely wealthy has amassed that wealth in an ethical way.
3
This Op - Ed is specifically recommending huge donation by Mr. Bezos to a particular type of school, which is wrong unless Montessori style of teaching is extraordinary.
Mr. Bezos must be having his own network to find out which type of schools serve the best interests of the people at large. Most of the people simply can’t afford to send their children to the Private Schools not that they are extremely good.
I for one feel Public Schools should be strengthened by this exemplary gesture. The concerned Public Schools can hire good teachers and also purchase good equipment required for the laboratories in addition to strengthening their libraries if these schools have students right from Preschool to High School.
9
Do your due diligence; Bezos has already announced that the money from his charitable fund IS going to fund Montessori inspired preschools (money is also going to address homelessness). The writer’s plea is to Bezos to support established Montessori programs.
My kids went to public school, but they started their education in a 3 year Montessori school program (included K). It was truly the best education they had. It created a spectacular foundation
18
What little I know of Montessori methods seems to jibe with my sense of Bezos and Amazon. He and his business are effective I suppose -- but devoid of creativity. That seems a pity all around.
1
Jeff Bezos may be devoid of creativity - thought I doubt it - but well-run, certified Montessori programs most certainly are not. They open the doors for children to make unique connections, blend art and science, play with language, and work well with others from an early age. Moreover, they learn respect and they learn to look around and inward for guidance - not just follow the requirements of an authority figure. Spend time with kids who’ve really engaged in Montessori and you notice the difference.
11
Why settle for knowing so little? Mark Twain is attributed to the quote, but for what it’s worth: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.
Consider reading up on both, or at least Montessori, before you make an assessment. Don’t let others do your thinking.
Unfortunately much charity by employers is paternalistic. Gifts are not always appropriate as any frequent party-goer can tell you.
The best gift is usually cash, if you don't know what else to bring: it is fully fungible and respects the life choices of the recipient. It admits trust in their judgement of their needs, and it respects their freedom to use what is 'given'.
3
@Brice C. Showell you assume that the recipients are able to make good choices.
Interesting that the child in the photo has his left shoe on his right foot. Is this the Montessori result? Or is this an Escher op-ed?
The op-ed is the reason why Bezos and others among the hyper-rich don’t let out their cellphone numbers easily – sooner or later, those numbers become known beyond a tight inner-circle, and the principals start getting calls from people who are sure that they know better how to spend their money than those who earned it.
However, others among the moneyed have concluded that, given the results, it could be better to start something new that isn’t immured in an existing bureaucracy. For instance, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos (again) and Jamie Dimon are firing-up a new joint venture to do something about the high cost, complexity, and bureaucracy of U.S. healthcare. Buffett is very polite about it, but clearly the motivation lies in his confidence that the current system doesn’t provide the right incentives to broaden access and improve quality while ALSO driving down and strategically controlling costs. After healthcare, one of our more immense consumers of public funds is education generally.
Bezos may well have concluded that existing providers may not be the best places to start with his preschool investments.
9
@Richard Luettgen. It’s so interesting that you would point out the child’s shoe! Children are expected to dress themselves, another act of independence. Mistakes are seen as stepping stones to self perfection rather than something that needs to be outwardly corrected by a teacher (guide) or even negative. The teacher or guide may notice the shoe and ask “How does that shoe feel? Would they feel better switched?” Etc to call the child’s attention to it but the child is the one who corrects the shoes (unless of course his safety, tripping, is a concern).
17
As a long time Catholic school, public school and Montessori teacher/intern visitor, I know what great good the Montessori approach can do for all children. But so many things can and do go wrong. Visiting many public and private schools the administration as well as the teachers must really understand and support the substantive and subtle role of the teacher as creator of the "prepared environment", the gradual teaching of ground rules for social behavior, doing outstanding observation and record keeping to "follow the child". Teachers need mentors and aids. Administrator need to know how important the purchase and care of materials and well designed spaces are. The most successful schools I visited had administrators who constantly assisted the teachers encouraging cooperation. I would want the $2 billion to go to research and teacher training. We need reform to deepen training to be more like multi year internships that doctors do to get their license.
19
Montessori method? My daughter was in attendance for almost two years before Kindergarten. Result? She could not even recite the full alphabet. Once I decided to teach her at night before bed, she made rapid progress.
5
@Tony: You have your opinion on the Montessori method, based on the outcome of one child - yours. There could be many reasons that your child did not seem to benefit from this method - it could lie in the administration of the school, the particular teacher or teachers your child interacted with, or - gasp! - maybe your child might be one who benefits from a more traditional environment. None of these reasons are compelling enough to tar the whole Montessori movement with the same brush as failures - remember, this was one child’s experience - I am sure there are others who are stellar examples of the success of the Montessori method. Each child is an individual and learns in his or her own way - some by the Montessori method, others by a different approach. Your child is possibly one of those. It should not matter “how” these kids get the education they deserve, just that they get it.
3
Hmmm, where do parents come in as child’s first teacher in your world view?
My children attended Montessori from age 3 1/2 through Kindergarten, but both my kids learned to recite the alphabet BEFORE they began....
Not every school is created equal and sounds like your preschool was not in line with either AMS nor AMI, and perhaps just “inspired”.
3
@Tony My two children went to a Montessori pre-school. They were both readers before they went to kindergarten (my daughter, who went to a public school kindergarten) or first grade (when my son transitioned). I can't say enough good about the Montessori environment and their way of approaching and working with children. And the comparison of the school to your typical pre-k - - well, there was no comparison.
33
I admire Mr. Bezos’ understanding of the benefits of a child-centric approach to education that discourages extrinsic rewards, competition, tests, and grades, and tries to instill a joy of learning in ALL children. His statement said “Montessori-inspired”, and these key tenets are likely what he had in mind. The system is not best for all kids, but it’s great for many kids. Kudos for Bezos for understanding this and putting money into bringing this opportunity to more children.
At the same time, I’d like to see him donate to the many public school teachers on DonorsChoose.org who need everything from books to chairs. My donations of $10 here and there help, but Bezos could do enormous good by helping out these public school teachers with the materials they say they need most...many of which explicitly involve purchases from Amazon!
24
Jeff Bezos could start by offering reduced Prime rates to educators. Even Staples has teacher rewards.
3
I get tired of people using guerrilla marketing tactics to tell philanthropists particularly when it comes to education (which in the United States is an abject failure) how to spend their money or how to run the company they built that gave them this opportunity to give money away. If you don’t like the way Amazon treats its employees work somewhere else. Any money plowed into education should be greeted graciously because it historically has been money wasted. Good luck Jeff with your education endeavors.
13
As a taxpayer, I get tired of subsidizing billionaire tax evaders like Bezos who then act holier-than-thou when they take the money THEY STOLE FROM THE TAXPAYERS and give it to "charity."
5
@Mark Singleton
Privatization endeavors.
1
How about dyslexia? Some of the brightest thinkers had dyslexia and surely benefited from the proven methods that teach these kids to read. Unfortunately many schools do not use these methods in the classroom. Dyslexia tutors charge $100/hr, and that’s not the highest. Tutoring is recommended at least twice a week. Most families can not afford this and it’s something schools should be providing anyway according to FAPE laws. The incidence of dyslexia is about 5-10%. Those are a lot of creative minds going to waste, unless that is their parents have a spare $800/month to pay for tutoring.
9
I fear Jeff Bezos would pay Montessori trained teachers pittance. I fear he would cannibalize existing schools so that he could mine data from his preschool “customers.” I hope he would pay taxes, increase wages for his workers, support exciting public libraries and Head Start programs.
How is he going to vet his staff if he will not have to answer to the local departments of education.
25
What the author doesn't say is more important than what she says. Like charter schools, Montessori programs cherry pick their students and haven't a clue how to deal with children who don't fit their preconceptions. They would further deplete public schools of good students and then be able to claim their good results. it's a kind of a shell game.
12
@Mickeyd My understanding is that this is talking about pre-k Montessori schools. The ones my kids went to didn't "cherry pick" their students, and since there are no pre-k public schools (that I am aware of) in the Los Angeles area, so it ain't taking money away from public schools. And it was a fabulous experience that my children (who are young adults) and I still recall fondly.
16
@Mickeyd So public schools are entitled to "good students" even if those children can be better served elsewhere? Children are people, not pawns to be sacrificed to some notion of social justice.
3
I worked at a public Montessori school with a rigid approach to discipline, and it didn't work. Just as with everything, there are all kinds of Montessori schools.
6
@Laura Pallandre
yes there are all kinds of wanna-be Montessori-based schools doing it on the cheap. Montessori accredited schools do not use the rigid approach to discipline. Public schools will do it on the cheap and that erodes its success. Montessori requires its unique classroom setup and materials, not textbooks from the local DOE
22
It's natural for an entrepreneur who shook up an old line industry like retail and a newer one like computing believes he can do something special with education. Gates did as well.
Something tells me that education is not so straightforward. While there are online courses and the Khan Academy, education is really about grinding it out. More money, more teachers, better facilities and parental involvement.
At least Bezos is investing in Montessori and pre-K. Both are proven long term investments. Maybe Bezos' management philosophy will add additional value beyond the money.
10
As a retired teacher in a family of teachers, it seems like in education, as in life, everyone is looking for simple answers.
Most kids in high school can tell you life isn’t simple.
1
My granddaughter attended Montessori school before enrolling in public kindergarten. She is now in third grade and has always been ahead of her peers with reading and ,
Math. More importantly she has developed a passion for learning. Im a believer
31
It is not the job of any preschool, Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio, to prepare the child academically for their next step. The work of the child is to play, have fun and gain social skill to interact with others. This is done under the direction of skilled professional educators. It is wonderful that Mr. Bezos is concerned about children and want to help provide safe stimulating places for them to spend their days. But it isn’t just the children who need those spaces. The teachers also need education, living wages and security. You can’t have one without the other.
55
Yes, preschool should focus on play and children learn about themselves, others, and rules through play. Not sure about how necessary skilled professional educators are at this stage. A genuinely kind and responsible adult can do that. But home life is more influential at this stage. It is great to care about children and try to do something about them, but children are dependent on parents. Hard to know the demographics of parents for kids at these envisioned Bezos schools. If they are free, perhaps they could come up with some ways to get the parents involved. No one teaches parenting. Parental involvement can help school and parents get on the same page about expectations and support for the children.
We don't tell God what to do with HIS unlimited powers, although we do ask humbly for forgiveness, for healing, protection, victory on the battlefield and the gridiron, an "A" on the final exam and that promotion and pay raise. Gazillionaires are our American Gods and who are we mere mortals to do anything but beg for their favors. Surely, they know what's best for us.
11
@abigail49
Mr. Bezos is as close to God as any of us mere mortals can hope to encounter in our lifetimes (and, I wouldn't recommend the encounters, for they won't do you any good). Please point your carpet in the direction of Seattle, and remember to bow five times a day.
Most gods have been toppled, and I'm willing to topple ours. I'd rather Bezos paid his taxes and stopped exploiting his employees. I don't care about his charity, which is money he stole from us.
4
Hope some of that generous $2 billion dollars finds its way into small towns and rural schools too. Mr. Bezos makes me proud to be an Amazon Prime member what with his fantastic business acumen giving us unprecedented access to the worlds marketplace, and his gentle humanity.
5
@Moe Def His "gentle humanity" apparently does not extend to paying his employees a living wage.
2
Dear Mr. Bezos,
revolutionize the world by paying more to your employees.
Revolutionize the world by vowing to not have one employee in need of food stamps.
Revolutionize the world by having employees of all ranks sitting at the table where the bread is divided.
Revolutionize the world by not pitting cities against cities for tax benefits; but by being willing to being a good corporate citizen and paying your share - hopefully the money you pay in taxes will make its way to public schools.
Revolutionize the world by being humble; by recognizing that you were lucky, and by respecting your fellow citizens's experiences; stop the nonsense of assuming that because you make more money than half of the world you know more than half of the world. Already a lot of people have been studying education; empower them; empower the teachers we already have.
Until then, all these charitable institutions from the uber-wealthy are a little more than but statues to your egos - pretty and beautiful but ultimately all about you.
242
@MS - As the Brits would say, "Spot on!"
1
@MS - Completely agree except for "...by recognizing that you were lucky..." Bezos graduated Summa Cum Laude [from Princeton] and has worked hard for what he has. That said, what really bothers me is not the hubris, but the hypocrisy, as outlined perfectly in the rest of your comment. My suspicion is that billionaires like Bezos [and Buffett] are trying "to buy their way into heaven" by feigning support for those less well off. People who consider Bezos and his ilk "on their side" should remember one salient fact: Harvey Weinstein helped raise millions for women's causes, cynically planning, no doubt, to earn "chits" he could use later to help keep him out of jail.
@MS and revolutionize the world by demanding that you and your fellow billionaires may your fair share of taxes
It's always great to see how people like to spend other people's money.
22
@R. R. You're ok with the yawning inequality of income and of wealth in our country?
1
if Bezos paid his workers decent wages he wouldn't have 2billion to throw at a vanity project. same story if Amazon had paid its fair share of taxes.
181
@Jill murray Thank you, thank you, for saying what I was about to say. We the people pay for those food stamps and other government programs the poorly paid Amazon employees so desperately need. Gee I would rather our taxes go for regular schools and health care for all and free college and not cutting the so called entitlements we all paid into. Happy Bezos? You steal from what your workers deserve and make us pay for it. You owe us and them, Shame on you, you sham! take you bloody money and pay retroactive living wages to your slaves.
4
Of course, Jeff Bezos can spend his money whichever way he sees fit (Montessori included); any improvement in educating people is welcome. How about promoting public schools, and the need to desegregate them, and to equalize the opportunities available? And to advocate better pay, and recognition, of teachers, as the most noble (along with nurses) profession we have?
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@manfred marcus Mr. Bezos also helps public schools, recently donating badly needed equipment here in Miami to public schools.
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@manfred marcus: teachers in the US are extremely well paid for what amounts to part-time jobs for 30 hours a week with 3 months of PAID vacations and tenure and giant pensions and early retirement.
Clearly "more pay" did not work for the last 45 years, as our schools and quality of teaching deteriorated as the pay drastically increased.
People do not respect teachers, because of their powerful unions that permits bad teachers to continue and never fires or disciplines anyone.
It has nothing to do with money. A math teacher in my district, at the top of the pay ladder, now earns $115,000 a year -- in the Rustbelt Midwest, where the average family income is about $48,000.
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@Concerned Citizen It sounds as though you have a gripe against teachers. Of course, we must consider teaching a 'calling', and requiring rigorous training, hence the need to pay them well. That there are abuses from some Unions does not mean they ought not be available; and bad teachers need to be weeded out. To gain some perspective in the need for 'excellence' in teaching, the most noble profession I can think of, look at Finland, where a cooperative environment draws the highest achievement in the most precious value we have, human talent.
I went to Montessori school in 1950's. I enrolled three of my children to Montessori schools at age 3 to 4 in 1980's.. I convinced many of my friends to send their children to Montessori schools in 1990's. All these schools were private supported by high tuition fees and gifts from parents. That prevented the neediest children from getting this valuable early start.
Early education in a Montessori school is a lifelong gift.
So I completely agree with this column. I hope Mr. Bezos reads this column and acts accordingly.
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@Honeybee
Unfortunately not every child has a parent with the time energy and ability to research, investigate and pay private tuition. Far too many have parents who don't care or are working too hard to survive to be able to provide this "gift." And with the Republican push to cut funding for birth control, there will be far more of these children.
@Honeybee You wrote, "...having a parent who researches, investigates, and is willing to pay private tuition is the gift."
Most children in poverty are born to parents who were born in poverty to parents who were born in poverty.
How are they to learn how to research and investigate, much less pay private tuition?
@Honeybee ". . .having a parent who researches, investigates, and is willing to pay private tuition is the gift"
Your moral seems to be "choose your parents."
The conclusion, then, is if you are unlucky enough to be born to parents who can't afford to pay private tuition, or who lack the time and mental abilities to do the research, well, too bad for you.
I guess I qualify as one of the 'wealthy elite' whose son attended a private Montessori preschool in northern NJ. Very expensive program for 3 years at the prompting of my ex-wife, who sung the praises of the Montessori Method, which I knew little about when he started there.
Upon completing the program and starting kindergarten, my son was far behind both academically and socially. He learned valuable lessons about cleaning up after himself and playing alone (as it was very important to operate at his own pace in preschool), but the highly-acclaimed Montessori school, as I witnessed first-hand, did not prepare him for school - an experience I learned was common at the other Montessori schools in our area.
In 2nd grade now, he still struggles against peers who attended other preschool programs. So on top of the steep price for his preschool education, he still requires tutors to catch up with the work he does in elementary school - as for the social aspect, my wife (a teacher for 2+ decades) and I have worked extensively with him to develop friendships and 'get along in a group' (his Montessori teacher argued in the past he would make friends at 'his own pace').
Long story short...Mr. Bezos has an ambitious and, I am sure, well-intended goal to further preschool education and Ms. Debs seems impassioned about this approach. I would advise as a parent with direct experience he look elsewhere for a philosophy for early childhood education.
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Agreed. I am still waiting to see the benefit of Montessori schools. I wouldn’t send my child to one, even if it was free. The fact that the poor can be admitted on scholarship means nothing if they don’t know they can. And the quality of pre-school education was not as impressive as the price tag when we visited several of them recently. Kids need to be in early education, period. Montessori is not the magical fix it is made out to be.
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@JL My daughter attended Montessori preschool for two years prior to public kindergarten. Due to her Montessori experience - which she loved - she was an early reader (2 and a half). She was moved from first to second grade after a few weeks and placed in a gifted and talented program.
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Your smearing of Montessori seems to be based mainly on a sample of one. That’s no way to draw a conclusion about anything. No pedagogy is best for all kids. Kids who need a tremendous amount is structure probably shouldn’t be in Montessori.
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If school districts spend more of their funds on teachers and the support thereof most districts could provide a quality education without relying on donations from wealthy individuals. Far too much money goes to administrators and, here in a Texas in particular, football programs. It is not at all uncommon for the highest paid employees of school districts here to be the football coaches.
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Jeff Bezos is just another supposed "master of the universe" who managed to steal more of OUR personal data and wealth than some of the other greedy, tax-evading, ethically bankrupt financial community.
Now he thinks he's going to convince us that he wants to "fix" education? NO. He just found a new say to steal - from private schools.
Amazon and it's subsidiaries and everything else Jeff Bezos contorts should be broken up into tiny pieces and turned into true employee-owned businesses that will actually serve communities.
NOW is a great time - before he can get any move invasive.
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Ms. Debs -- "Don't sell the skin before you've caught the bear". Any billionaire or trillionaire can promise something and then change his mind.
@njglea
I didn’t come away from this article feeling socialism was the answer but maybe I am just a little slow.
@TW Smith
Dear T W Smith Texas,
Please inform me how socialism is associated with Montessori schools. Most Montessori schools are private and are supported by tuition paid by the parents with no contribution from the government. Public Montessori schools are indeed supported by local school boards, as are other secular and religious schools supported by public projects such as charters. My son attended a public Montessori school in Milwaukee, and I was a frequent volunteer in his classrooms. There was never any suggestion of political influence or indoctrination connected with any economic system.
If you have evidence suggesting a connection with socialism, I would be glad to receive it, as I do not wish my own support for Montessori education to be wasted effort .
The more salient issue is that Montessori schools have around 100 years of evidence showing that the education received by their students is at least as good and often much better than that provided by other institutions.
Thank you for your attention and response.
Mary Dillon Galbraith
Shorewood. WI