[NCAH] How much influence should Bill Gates have on the teaching of history?

[Dorothea Hoffman [Martin]]

This story from the NY Times is about how Bill Gates got interested in 
"Big History" as done by David Christian.  Those of you who teach World 
History or keep up with the pedagogy of that course, should find this 
article of interest.  Those who are interested in the role of 
billionaires in shaping high school courses of all topics, will also 
find much to chew on here.  Interesting to me is that the article is 
written by someone at the Times who writes for the Financial 
pages....Eduction and history are big bucks and big politics.
Best.
Dorothea
PS - FYI - I was teaching World Civ starting at the Big Bang long before 
I knew of Christian's ideas and was a strong advocate of topical courses 
within world history as a way to engage the college student in a broader 
linking context.  I think the discussion we've had about history methods 
and evaluation are also very important when looking at the issues 
brought up here.

http://nyti.ms/1u5XTtH