Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Zuckerberg Donation to Newark Schools
I was wondering when this was going to start -- the uproar and criticism of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million dollar donation to Newark schools. Critics are saying that the donation is in the form of stocks to be distributed over a five-year time period and that there are conditions attached. One of the conditions is that the Newark public schools, which are currently run by the state of New Jersey, would then come under the jurisdiction of Newark's mayor, Cory Booker. The press is calling the donation a political move and questioning it's timing -- right before a contentious election. What I question is why Oprah, who very publicly opened a girl's school in Africa, and who said she chose Africa because school kids in the U.S. are too "materialistic," is all of a sudden championing education reform by plugging the movie "Waiting for Superman" and announcing Zuckerberg's donation on her show. Could it be because this is her talk show's last season and she is trying to atone for her girl's school public relations disaster? Please share your thoughts.
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Thanks for a debatable blog. I have always been one to think, that donations so large often come with strings attached. Funny story, one day Oprah made a surprise appearance to the community in which I taught. This happened after she found out that the community did not have a running water system and the school scored the lowest in state.
ReplyDeleteOn her show she made such a big deal about how she couldn't believe that a town so close to her home (60 miles)was so poor. Before she arrived everyone asked the same question, "What is she going to give us?" although the school was actually blessed with resources.
Surprisingly, nothing ever happened after her appearance and she never spoke of it again on the show. I guess it didn't generate enough ratings. I appreciate donations, but I hate when strings are attached because it seems like they are banging a bone and if we don't comply then they will snatch it back.