Friday, May 8, 2009

Quotables

Holding Gates accountable

The Lancet, one of the world's leading medical journals, is critical of the way the Gates Foundation invests in global health care:

As the largest private foundation in the world, the Gates Foundation itself defies precedent in its ability to influence global health. The foundation's spending on global health was nearly equal to the World Health Organization's annual budget in 2007. Yet the Gates Foundation is not held accountable, nor is it open about the way it sets priorities and awards grants, according to the Lancet analysis. "What are the foundation's future plans?" asks an editorial. "It's hard to know for sure." (Seattle Times)

Overheard on Arne Duncan's NCLB "listening tour"
"To have a child taking a test that it is literally impossible for them to pass and having that humiliation, and holding schools accountable for that, that doesn't make sense," Duncan said in an interview with the Associated Press. (Education Week)
Ending Bush's "abstinence only" sex-ed funding

Planned Parenthood's Johnny Wilson on Obama's proposed approach to sex education and teenage pregnancies:
“That the Obama administration is looking at this honestly … gives me huge amounts of confidence. I’m really quite impressed. It’s bold. Pissing off the right wing is something we’ve all learned to be afraid of.” (New Mexico Independent)

2 comments:

  1. So much for the argument that Obama is same as Bush on education.

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  2. The Lancet points out that most Gates health research money is spent in in wealthier countries on vaccine research and antibiotics. This compared with community-based malaria and AIDS prevention efforts in African countries. This critique should have a familiar ring to educators and those working in the poorest communities here.

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