A Gates-Crasher, Robot Wars, and

A Real Snow Job

Teacher Magazine ’s take on education news from around the Web, Feb. 25-March 3.

Education activists have long criticized the structure of American high schools, but that charge probably has more resonance coming from a really rich guy. In a speech before the National Governors Association, Bill Gates delivered a blistering critique of secondary education in the United States , saying that with their current mass production approach, U.S. high schools are obsolete and ultimately leave millions of students without the knowledge they need to compete in the global economy. “Training the work force of tomorrow with today’s high schools is like trying to teach kids about today’s computers on a 50-year-old mainframe,”...