Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday that his second foray into education philanthropy will focus on the under served schools in San Francisco's Bay Area. Not everyone is excited, however.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg continues his philanthropic foray into American education by announcing on Friday that he intends to donate $120 million to needy schools in the San Francisco Bay area. This follows on the heels of a $100 million donation he made back in 2010 to the city of Newark for their school system.
Zuckerberg, 31, has entered the education fray and is trying to make a name for himself in philanthropy but faces extremely strong and entrenched competition from the likes of the Walton Family Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, according to US News & World Report. He has jumped into a controversy that has many opponents highly concerned about the future influence these billionaires will have on the current public school system in America.
Zuckerberg had high hopes for the $100 million he sent to Newark but the dream has not turned out to be the reality. At the time of his donation to Newark, students there were dropping out at alarming rates and less than 40 percent of them could even function at the grade level at which they were at. Zuckerberg realized it would be an uphill fight and he has since admitted that mistakes and misperceptions were made. He considers them lessons learned as he continues his crusade to better American public schools. At least according to his definitions.
A book was written and published highlighting what mostly happened to Zuckerberg’s money after it reached Newark. The book says the money was spent shoring up charter schools and designing new evaluation systems for teachers. The book claims that the money was mostly wasted and didn’t make much of a difference at all.
Zuckerberg counterattacked by saying that many positive outcomes were achieved and those should be recognized. He notes that graduation rates now stand at 69 percent in Newark schools compared with 56 percent before he sent the money. He, also, cited an authoritative independent report which put Newark in the top five of schools that were outperforming those around the country in similar circumstances.
Zuckerberg’s vision is one which is known as personalized learning. This is a system by which learning plans and curriculum are individually designed for each student according to her or his ability to learn. He also knows that the lessons learned from the Newark experiment will only make his venture into San Francisco that much stronger and more enlightened.
