Maybe it’s a side effect of the edtech bubble—some high-tech companies that have developed and sold tech to the education system are going a step further by creating the schools themselves. Oracle announced plans to open a public high school on the campus of its headquarters in Redwood City, CA. Called Design Tech High School, or d.tech, the curriculum will focus on teaching technology, design thinking and problem solving skills. Sal Khan was profiled in Wired magazine in October expressing his intentions to remake schools through his Khan Lab School. Meanwhile, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are opening a private, pre-K through eighth-grade school in East Palo Alto that will integrate health and education to serve disadvantaged children. While interesting, I also find it vaguely creepy. Shades of the “company store” perhaps? —Kevin Hogan, Content Director
