Windows HS: Microsoft designs a school system
Sep 12th, 2006 | by Neil Barton | Posted in politics, technology | Comments Off
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has famously called high schools “obsolete” and warned about their effect on U.S. competitiveness. Now, his company has a chance to prove that it can help fix the woes of public education.
After three years of planning, the Microsoft Corp.-designed “School of the Future” opened its doors Thursday, a gleaming white modern facility looking out of place amid rows of ramshackle homes in a working-class West Philadelphia neighborhood.
The school is being touted as unlike any in the world, with not only a high-tech building — students have digital lockers and teachers use interactive “smart boards” — but also a learning process modeled on Microsoft’s management techniques.
“Philadelphia came to us … and asked us to design a school,” said Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft. “We’re going to take our best shot.”
The company didn’t pay the $63 million cost — that was borne by the Philadelphia School District — but shared its personnel and management skills. About 170 teens, nearly all black and mainly low-income, were chosen by lottery to make up the freshman class. The school eventually plans to enroll up to 750 students.
