What impact do you think Zuckerberg's gift of $100 Million will have on the Newark schools?

I think they will be used to buy better equipment such as computers, and to attract better teachers.

I think it will make a significant impact.

The latter. He’s pouring money down a rat hole. The rats will get fatter, and the rat hole will widen. The problem with public schools is not lack of funding. The schools in Washington DC receive even more money per capita than New York, Chicago (and Newark) and have the worst results in the country.

I’m not going to say that the problem is “the students” or “their parents”, either—but they do share responsibility. Public schools that have undertaken a “missionary zeal” to run a tight, disciplined ship and by-god “teach” have been and can be successful. There are schools in Harlem that have proven this. It’s not a racial thing, and it’s not a money thing. It’s about determination and will to succeed starting at the school leadership, and fostering that will throughout the school, to teachers and students alike.

The problem with most public school systems is that the bureaucracy and teachers’ unions have vested interests in their own jobs—and protecting the jobs of the worst of each group—that override the relatively disorganized parents and as-apathetic-as-they’re-allowed-to-be students. That leads to loss of control of the “teaching experience” and good students and good teachers find other places to be, for the most part, which continues to degrade the entire system.

For all the success of Facebook, Zuckerberg is a fool. But he’s not the first rich fool, and he won’t be the last.

There is a good discussion here.

I feel confident about the committment made by the mayor of Newark and the Governor of New Jersey for no nonsence, no politics, solutions. It is their committment and track record of not giving a shit about the status quo that gives me hope.

I think the kids will be getting on Facebook whenever the teacher isn’t looking.