Interview with Anthony Cody, A Teacher Challenges the Gates Foundation

Interview with Anthony Cody, A Teacher Challenges the Gates Foundation

Can a teacher challenge the wealthiest man in the world? This is the question Garn Press asked when Anthony Cody’s The Educator And The Oligarch was first published. The answer is a resounding “Yes!” Anthony Cody not only challenged Bill Gates, but also received the NCTE George Orwell Award, which recognizes writers who have made outstanding contributions to the critical analysis of public discourse, and the 2015 eLIT Silver Medal Award in the education/ academic/ teaching category.

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Anthony Cody on A Teacher Challenges the Gates Foundation

Anthony Cody spent 24 years working in Oakland schools, 18 of them as a science teacher at a high-needs middle school. A National Board-certified teacher, he now leads workshops with teachers on Project Based Learning. He is the co-founder of the Network for Public Education. With education at a crossroads, he invites you to join him in a dialogue on education reform and teaching for change and deep learning.

Anthony Cody on Teachers Making a Difference

About the Book, The Educator And The Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges The Gates Foundation

From the Common Core to test-based teacher evaluation systems cropping up around the country, to the rapid expansion of semi-private charter schools, the Gates Foundation has had a huge, largely invisible influence on public education in 21st century America.

Can a teacher challenge the wealthiest man in the world? Anthony Cody, who spent 24 years working in the high poverty schools of Oakland, California, has done so here. Education reform is the top domestic priority for the Gates Foundation, and this philanthropic organization has poured billions of dollars into reshaping American schools. This money has paid for research, advocacy, and a whole non-profit industry aligned with the Gates agenda. According to Cody, their chosen path of data-driven reform, centered on high stakes tests, educational technology and market-based competition between schools, threatens great harm to public education.

The Gates agenda has largely become the guiding policy for the Department of Education. Gates-sponsored projects like the Common Core have support of major corporations, the Chamber of Commerce, and Republican leaders as well. In this book, that agenda is subjected to a detailed critique.

Endorsements and Reviews

“A powerful and important book by one of the most courageous advocates for sanity and simple justice in our public schools.” – Jonathan Kozol

“This book is a record of Anthony Cody’s valiant struggle to force the nation’s most powerful foundation and richest person to listen to the voice of an experienced teacher.” – Diane Ravitch

“Anthony Cody’s new book is a requirement for teachers in an era defined by the Gates Foundation’s attempt to turn classrooms into a test prep centers.” – Jesse Hagopian

“Anthony Cody’s book is a timely and concise reminder of just how much of a spoiled man’s playground American public education has become to Gates and his profound net worth.” – Mercedes Schneider

“Anthony Cody’s new book The Educator and the Oligarch is a brilliant, point by point challenge to Bill Gates role in undermining public education in the United States.” – Mark Naison

“This book should be required reading for every policy maker in America.” - Amazon

“If I were in school in study to be a teacher now I'd expect a course called, "The Corporate Education Model" and Cody's book on the reading list. If I were a parent trying to understand my way through schooling my children, I'd read this book. If I were a teacher, school Super., Board Member I'd read this book, and frankly if I were a citizen in a democracy I'd definitely want to understand the perspectives of this teacher as he interacts ultimately with the Gates Foundation.” - Amazon

“A must-read for anyone interested in learning how the Gates Foundation has influenced public education.” - Amazon

“When are we the citizens, students, parents, and educators going to rise up, use our voices, and tell Gates enough is enough.
Anthony has given us the evidence, and the call to action. Buy this book if you care about public education. Then buy another copy and donate it to your legislators. Make them accountable for following their lead.” - Amazon

“Anthony Cody nails it! He carefully lays out how the Gates Foundation is undermining public education by introducing huge economic advantageous for the private sector to become involved.” - Amazon

“I would recommend this book to every legislator, school board member and superintendent in America, as well as parents, teachers, and anyone who cares about the future of our public schools. Cody not only nails the problem, he offers some well thought out alternatives to the private take over of one of our most fundamental democratic institutions.” - Amazon

“Anthony Cody, a real teacher with deep experience, offers a brilliant and mordant rebuttal of much of the Bill Gates/Gates Foundation led "initiatives" on education that are both myopic and arrogant at once. Cody dissects argument after argument and offers ripostes both from the perspective of data and experience but also from the perspective of the Gates philosophy being inconsistent and illogical.” - Amazon

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Anthony Cody, Author NewsGarn PressOctober 24, 2019