Gates Cites Need to Improve High Schools, Boost Visas

Washington

Seeking to emphasize the link between education and the United States’ ability to promote business innovation, federal lawmakers last week turned to someone they regard as an authority in both areas: Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates.

Mr. Gates was the only witness before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee at a March 7 hearing on “competitiveness,” including efforts to gird against foreign competition through improved mathematics and science education.

The philanthropist and Microsoft executive, a major supporter of efforts to improve high schools, said lawmakers could take an important step to improve U.S. competitiveness by allowing more skilled, foreign-born workers to remain in this...