Mosquitos, malaria and education - Bill Gates

Summary

In this transcript, the speaker discusses two significant global challenges: malaria and education. Highlighting the progress made in reducing childhood deaths through vaccines, the speaker emphasizes the need to eradicate malaria, especially in poorer regions. He advocates for innovative approaches, new tools, and global cooperation. The second challenge revolves around improving the quality of education, particularly by enhancing teacher effectiveness. Drawing on examples like the KIPP charter schools, he stresses the importance of better training, evaluation, and support for teachers to improve student outcomes and strengthen societies.

Takeaways

• 💼 Warren Buffett suggested writing an honest annual letter discussing the foundation's successes and challenges to engage more people in solving important global problems.
• 🦟 Malaria is a major problem in developing countries, and despite progress with tools like bed nets and DDT, the disease still kills millions. Innovation and continuous investment are needed to achieve eradication.
• 🌍 Many significant global issues, like diseases, don’t naturally attract investment or attention from governments, scientists, or the private sector, requiring external efforts to make progress.
• 📉 Childhood mortality rates have drastically improved over the past century, with significant reductions in deaths from diseases like measles due to vaccines and other interventions.
• 🎯 The foundation’s goal is to cut the remaining childhood mortality rate in half within 20 years, targeting diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria.
• 📊 Malaria has been eradicated in rich, temperate countries, but remains a burden in poorer, tropical regions, with limited global investment despite its significant impact.
• 📉 The education system in the United States is failing, with over 30% of children dropping out of high school, especially affecting low-income and minority groups.
• 🎓 Teacher quality plays a critical role in student success. Top teachers can significantly improve student outcomes, but the current system doesn’t prioritize or reward them appropriately.
• 📚 Innovations in teaching, like the Kip charter school model, show that with proper support, even students from disadvantaged backgrounds can succeed in higher education.
• 🎥 Leveraging technology, such as digital video for teacher feedback and sharing best practices, can help improve teaching quality and address systemic education challenges.

Q & A

What was the purpose of the speaker writing a letter as recommended by Warren Buffett?

The speaker wrote the letter to discuss the work of the foundation, sharing both successes and challenges. The goal was to encourage more people to work on important problems that are often overlooked by the market and governments.

What is the first major problem the speaker addresses in the script?

The first major problem is malaria, a deadly disease transmitted by mosquitoes, which predominantly affects poorer countries and does not receive sufficient investment compared to diseases like baldness.

How has malaria historically impacted global populations?

Malaria has been a severe disease for thousands of years, peaking at over 5 million deaths in the 1930s. It was once widespread, including in the United States and Europe, but has now been mostly eradicated in richer, temperate zones.

What tools helped reduce malaria deaths in the past?

DDT for killing mosquitoes and quinine (and its derivatives) for treating patients were the main tools used to reduce malaria deaths historically.

Why does the speaker say malaria remains a major problem in poorer countries?

Malaria is mainly present in poorer countries, which do not attract much investment in research or treatment. This creates a paradox where the disease continues to thrive because it affects areas with limited economic and healthcare resources.

What is one of the newer solutions mentioned for combating malaria?

Bed nets, combined with indoor spraying of DDT, have proven to cut deaths by over 50% in some countries. Additionally, a vaccine funded by the speaker's foundation is entering Phase 3 trials and could save over two-thirds of lives if effective.

What is the second major issue the speaker discusses?

The second issue is how to improve the quality of teachers and the overall education system, especially in the U.S., where teaching quality varies significantly and is not properly incentivized or studied.

How much impact does a top-quartile teacher have on student performance?

A top-quartile teacher can increase the performance of their students by over 10% in a single year, based on test scores.

What factors do not significantly affect teaching quality, according to the speaker?

Factors such as seniority and having a master's degree have no measurable impact on teaching quality, despite these being rewarded in the current system.

What innovative approaches does the speaker suggest to improve teacher effectiveness?

The speaker suggests increased testing, digital video to record classroom teaching, and fostering collaboration among teachers to review and improve their methods. These strategies, combined with learning from top teachers, could significantly enhance teacher quality.

Outlines

00:00

💡 Optimism in Addressing Global Problems

The speaker shares his commitment to addressing global issues through the foundation, inspired by Warren Buffett's advice to be transparent about challenges. He emphasizes the need to engage talented people to work on significant problems, noting that markets often fail to prioritize these. Citing progress in the reduction of childhood deaths, he highlights the impact of vaccines and medical advances. The speaker is optimistic that further reductions in deaths, especially from diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria, can be achieved in under 20 years.

05:02

🦟 The Fight Against Malaria

The speaker discusses malaria, a disease transmitted by mosquitoes, which has been devastating populations for thousands of years. Despite being eliminated from wealthy, temperate regions, it remains rampant in poorer countries, with a million deaths annually. Tools like DDT and quinine helped reduce malaria historically, and innovations like bed nets and new vaccines are helping further today. However, the speaker warns that the disease and mosquitoes evolve, making it crucial to maintain strong efforts and collaboration across disciplines to eradicate the disease fully.

10:04

📚 The Challenge of Improving Education

Turning to education, the speaker addresses the challenge of creating great teachers. He notes that while some students in the U.S. receive excellent education, the majority, especially from low-income backgrounds, do not. Over 30% of students drop out of high school, and fewer than 25% of low-income students graduate from college. The speaker argues that the key to improving education lies in improving teacher quality, observing that the best teachers can significantly boost student performance, yet there is little effort to identify and replicate their methods.

15:06

🏫 The Importance of Effective Teaching

The speaker dives deeper into the issue of teacher quality, explaining that current systems do not reward or retain great teachers. Teachers with master's degrees or more experience do not necessarily perform better, and many talented teachers leave the profession. The speaker points to examples like KIPP charter schools, where high standards, data tracking, and dynamic teaching methods have led to exceptional outcomes for disadvantaged students. He stresses that replicating such environments and using modern tools like digital video can help scale effective teaching practices.

📊 Reforming Education with Data and Innovation

The speaker advocates for using data to improve education. He explains that testing provides insights into teaching quality, and digital video can be used to record and review teaching methods for improvement. By encouraging collaboration among teachers and using technology to enhance learning, he believes that the quality of education can be improved nationwide. He also mentions the need to replicate successful teaching models, like those seen in KIPP schools, and make top-tier educational resources widely available, particularly to disadvantaged students.

🚀 Optimism for Tackling Global Problems

The speaker concludes by reiterating his optimism for solving major global issues like malaria and education reform. He emphasizes that addressing these challenges requires dedicated, brilliant people to step up and lead efforts. Despite systemic barriers in governments and the private sector, the speaker believes that with enough attention and innovation, solutions to these critical problems can be found, ultimately improving the lives of millions of people.

Keywords

💡Foundation

The 'foundation' refers to the organization that the speaker represents, likely a philanthropic entity dedicated to addressing global issues. In the script, the speaker discusses the foundation’s efforts to tackle significant problems that do not receive enough attention from market forces, emphasizing the need for continued focus and innovation in these areas.

💡Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett, a renowned investor and philanthropist, is mentioned as someone who advised the speaker to be transparent about the foundation’s progress. This advice underscores the importance of honesty in assessing the successes and challenges in their work, which is aimed at attracting more people to contribute to solving critical global problems.

💡Optimism

The speaker identifies themselves as an optimist, believing that even the toughest problems can be solved. This optimism is rooted in historical successes, such as the dramatic reduction in childhood deaths, and serves as a driving force behind the foundation’s efforts to tackle current global challenges like malaria and education reform.

💡Childhood deaths

Childhood deaths are used as a key indicator of global health progress. The speaker highlights the significant decrease in childhood mortality rates over the past few decades, attributing this success to increased incomes and medical breakthroughs, particularly vaccines. This example is used to demonstrate that large-scale problems can be addressed effectively.

💡Malaria

Malaria is presented as one of the two major problems the speaker focuses on. It is described as a deadly disease spread by mosquitoes, which has been a severe issue for thousands of years. The speaker outlines the history of malaria, past and current efforts to combat it, and the need for continued innovation and investment to eradicate the disease, especially in poorer regions where it remains prevalent.

💡Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are identified as the primary carriers of malaria, making them a central focus in efforts to control and eradicate the disease. The speaker discusses historical and contemporary methods of combating mosquitoes, such as the use of DDT and bed nets, while also noting the challenges posed by the evolving nature of both the malaria parasite and mosquitoes themselves.

💡Bed nets

Bed nets are highlighted as a crucial tool in the fight against malaria. They are used to protect people, especially children and mothers, from mosquito bites during the night. The speaker notes that bed nets, combined with indoor spraying, have significantly reduced malaria deaths in several countries, illustrating a practical solution that, while effective, requires ongoing support and adaptation.

💡Education reform

Education reform is the second major problem addressed in the script. The speaker emphasizes the need to improve teaching quality to ensure that all students, not just the top 20%, receive a strong education. The discussion focuses on the impact of great teachers, the shortcomings of the current system, and the potential for innovative approaches to enhance educational outcomes.

💡KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program)

KIPP is cited as an example of a successful education initiative that has made significant strides in improving student outcomes, particularly among disadvantaged populations. The speaker describes KIPP’s approach to teaching, which includes high levels of engagement, teamwork among teachers, and a strong emphasis on data-driven improvement, contrasting it with the traditional public school system.

💡Teacher effectiveness

Teacher effectiveness is identified as a critical factor in student success. The speaker discusses research showing significant variability in teacher quality, noting that great teachers can dramatically improve student performance. The explanation includes the challenges in recognizing, retaining, and replicating effective teaching practices within the current educational system.

Highlights

Warren Buffett recommended writing a letter to discuss both successes and challenges in the foundation’s work.

Drawing attention to problems that markets and governments fail to address naturally, such as diseases and education reform.

In the past century, average lifespans have more than doubled, and childhood deaths have been significantly reduced.

The reduction in childhood deaths from 20 million to 10 million due to breakthroughs like vaccines and income growth.

Malaria was once a global issue but is now confined mainly to poorer countries, resulting in less funding and attention.

Mosquito nets and DDT have helped reduce malaria deaths by over 50% in many regions.

The foundation is backing a malaria vaccine in a phase 3 trial that could save over two-thirds of lives if successful.

Malaria eradication requires cooperation from drug companies, governments, social scientists, and communicators.

Over 30% of U.S. students never finish high school, and the dropout rate is even higher for minority groups.

Top quartile teachers can increase student performance by over 10% in a single year, but the system fails to recognize and reward them.

The KIPP charter schools model is highlighted for its effective teaching methods, with over 96% of graduates going to four-year colleges.

Teachers are not regularly evaluated, with limitations on principal visits and data use, hindering improvement.

Digital tools like video recordings in classrooms could help teachers improve by allowing for peer reviews and analysis.

New data systems and testing could provide insight into teacher effectiveness, but policies sometimes resist these innovations.

Education reform and addressing issues like AIDS and pneumonia require skilled individuals and innovative approaches beyond what governments or markets typically provide.

Transcripts

I wrote a letter last week talking about

the work of the foundation sharing some

of the problems uh and Warren Buffett

had recommended I do that being honest

about what was going well what was

wasn't and making it kind of an annual

thing a goal I had there was to draw

more people in to work on those problems

because I think there are some very

important problems that don't get worked

on naturally that is the market does not

drive the scientists the communicators

the thinkers the governments to do the

right things and only by paying

attention to these things and having

brilliant people who care and draw other

people in can we make as much progress

as we need to so this morning I'm going

to share two of these problems and talk

about where they stand but before I dive

into those I I want to admit that I am

an optimist uh any tough problem I think

it it can be solved and part of the

reason I I feel that way is looking at

the past over the last century average

lifespan is more than

doubled another statistic perhaps my

favorite is to look at childhood deaths

as recently as

1960 110 million children were born and

20 million of those died before the age

of five 5 years ago 135 million children

were born so more and less than 10

million of them died before the age of

five so that's a a factor of two

reduction in the childhood death rate

it's a phenomenal thing I mean each one

of those lives matters a lot

and the key reason we were able to do it

uh was uh not only Rising incomes but

also a few key breakthroughs vaccines

that were used more widely for example

measles was 4 million of the deaths uh

back as recently as 1990 and now is

under 400,000 so we really can make

changes the next breakthrough is to cut

that 10 million in half again and I

think that's doable in well under 20

years

um why well there's only a few diseases

that account for the vast majority of

those deaths uh diarrhea

pneumonia and

malaria and so that brings us to the the

first problem uh that I'll I'll raise

this morning which is how do we stop a

disease a deadly disease that's spread

by

mosquitoes what's the history of this

disease it's been a severe disease for

thousands of years years in fact if we

look at the genetic code it's the only

disease we can see that people who lived

in Africa actually evolved several

things to avoid malarial

deaths that's actually peaked at a bit

over 5 million in the 1930s so it was

absolutely gigantic and the disease was

all over the world terrible disease it

was in the United States it was in

Europe uh people didn't know what caused

it until uh the early 1900s when an a

British military man figured out that it

it was

mosquitoes so it was

everywhere uh and two tools helped bring

the death rate down one was uh killing

the mosquitoes with DDT and the other

was treating the patients with quinine

or quinine derivatives uh and so that's

why the death rate did come down now

ironically what happened was it was

eliminated from all the temperate zones

which is where all the rich countries

are so we can see 1900 it's everywhere

1945 it's still most places 1970 the US

and most of Europe have gotten rid of it

1990 you've gotten most of the Northern

areas and then more recently you can see

it's just around the equator and so this

leads to the Paradox that because the

disease is only in the poor countries it

doesn't get much

investment uh for example there's more

money put into baldness drugs than are

put into malaria now baldness is it's

terrible thing

uh uh and rich men are

afflicted uh and so that's why that uh

priority has been set but malaria the

even the million deaths a year caused by

malaria greatly understate its impact uh

over 200 million people at any one time

were suffering from it uh means that you

can't get the economies in these areas

going because uh there's just it holds

things back so much now malar is of

course transmitted by mosquitoes I

brought some here so you could uh

experience this we'll let let those roam

around the

uh Auditorium a little

bit there there's no reason only poor

people should have have the experience

uh

th those mosquitoes are not not infected

but

uh so we've come up with a few new

things uh we've got bed nets and bed

nets are a a great tool what it means is

the mother and child stay under the

bedet at night and so the mosquitoes

that bite late at night can't get at

them and when you use indoor sprain uh

with DDT and the those Nets you can cut

debts by over

50% and that's happened now in a number

of countries it's great to see but we

have to be careful because malaria the

parasite evolves and the mosquito

evolves so every tool that we've ever

had in the past has eventually become

ineffective and so you end up with two

choices if you go into a country with

the right tools and the right way and

you do it vigorously you can actually

get a local eradication and that's where

we saw the malaria map shrinking or if

you go in kind of half-heartedly for a

period of time you'll reduce the disease

burden but eventually those tools will

become ineffective and the death rate

will soar back up again and the world

has gone through this uh where it paid

attention and then didn't pay attention

now we're on the

upswing bed net funding is up uh there's

new drug Discovery going on on our

foundation has backed a vaccine that's

going into phase three trial that starts

in a couple months and that should save

over 2third of lives if it's effective

and so we're going to have these new

tools but that alone doesn't give us the

road map uh cu the road map to get rid

of this disease involves many things it

involves communicators to keep uh the

funding High to keep the visibility High

to tell the success stories it involves

social scientists so we know how to get

not just 70% of people use the bed nets

but

90% uh we need mathematicians to come in

and simulate this do Monte Carlo things

to understand how these tools combine

and work together uh of course we need

drug companies uh to give us their

expertise uh we need Rich World

governments to be very generous in in

providing aid for these things and so as

these elements come together uh I'm

quite optimistic that we will be able to

eradicate malaria

well now let me turn uh to a second

question a fairly different question but

I'd say equally

important and this is how do you make a

teacher great now seems like the kind of

question that people would spend a lot

of time on and that we'd understand very

well and the answer is really that we

don't let's start with why this is

important well all of us here I'll bet

have some great teachers uh we all had a

wonderful education that's part of the

reason we're here today part of the

reason we're successful uh I can say

that even though I'm a College Dropout

uh I had great

teachers and in fact in the United

States the teaching system has worked

fairly well there are fairly effective

teachers in a narrow set of places so

the top 20% of students have gotten a

good education and those top 20%

have been the best in the world if you

measure them against the other top 20%

and they've gone on to create the

Revolutions in software and and

biotechnology and keep the us at the

Forefront now the strength for those top

20% is starting to fade on a relative

basis but even more concerning is the

education that the balance of people are

getting uh not only has that been weak

it's getting weaker and if you look at

the

economy it really is only providing

opportunities now to people with a

better education and so we have to

change this we have to change it so that

people have equal opportunity we have to

change it so that the country is strong

and and and stays in the Forefront of

things that are are driven by Advanced

education like Science and

Mathematics when I first learned the

statistics I was pretty stunned at how

bad things are over 30 % of kids never

finish high school and that had been

covered up for a long time because they

always took the dropout rate as the

number who started in senior year and

and then compared it to the number that

finished senior year because they

weren't tracking where the kids were

before that but most of the dropouts had

taken place before that so they had to

raise the stated dropout rate as soon as

that tracking was done to over 30% for

minority kids it's over

50% and even even if you graduate from

high

school if you're lwi income you have

less than a 25% chance of ever

completing a college degree if you're

lwi income in the United States you have

a higher chance of going to jail than

you do of getting a four-year

degree and that you know doesn't seem

entirely fair so how do you make

education better our foundation for the

last 9 years has invested in this

there's many people working on it uh

we've worked on small schools uh we

funded scholarships we've done things in

libraries uh a lot of these things had a

good effect but the more we looked at it

the more we realized that having great

teachers was the very key thing and so

we hooked up with some people studying

how much variation is there between

teachers between say the top cortile the

very best and the bottom cortile how

much variation is there within a school

or between schools and the answer is

that these variations are absolutely

unbelievable uh a top quartile teacher

will increase the performance of their

class based on test scores by over 10%

in a single year what does that mean

well that means if the entire us for two

years had top cortile teachers the

entire difference between us and Asia

would go away and with within four years

we would be blowing everyone in the

world away so it's simple all you need

is those top cortile

teachers and so you'd say well wow

that's good we should reward those

people we should retain those people we

should find out what they're doing and

transfer that skill to other people but

I can tell you that absolutely is not

happening

today what are the characteristics of

this top core trial what do they they

look like you might think well these

must be very senior teachers and the

answer is no once somebody is taught for

3 years their teaching quality does not

change thereafter the variation is very

very

small you might think well these are

people with master's degrees they've

gone back and they've gotten their

masters of education this chart takes

four different factors and says how much

do they explain teaching quality bottom

thing which says there's no effect at

all is a master's

degree uh now the way the PA system

works is there's two things that are

rewarded one is seniority uh because

your pay goes up and you vest into your

pension and the second is giving extra

money to people to get their master's

degree but it in no way is associated

with being a better teacher Teach for

America slight effect uh for Math

teachers majoring in math is a a

measurable effect

but

overwhelmingly it's your past

performance there are some people who

are very good at this and we've done

almost nothing to study what that is and

to draw it in uh to to replicate it to

raise the average capability or to

encourage the people with it to stay in

the system you might say well do the

good teachers stay in the Bad Teachers

leave the answer is on average the

slightly better teachers leave the

system and it's a system with very high

turnover now there are a few places very

few where great teachers are being made

uh good example of one is a set of

charter schools called Kip Kip means

knowledge is power it's an unbelievable

thing they have 66 schools mostly middle

schools seven high schools and uh what

goes on is great teaching they take the

poorest kids and over 96% of their high

school graduates go to fouryear colleges

and the whole spirit and attitude in

those schools is very different than in

the Normal public school they're team

teaching they're constantly improving

their teachers they're taking data the

test scores and saying to a teacher hey

you caused this amount of increase and

so they're deeply engaged in making

teaching better when you actually go and

and sit in one of these classrooms at

first it's very bizarre I sat down and I

thought what is going on the teacher was

running around and the en energy levels

High I thought well I'm in the prep the

the sports Rally or something what's

going on and the teacher was constantly

scanning to see which kids weren't

paying attention which kids were bored

and calling on kids rapidly putting

things up on the board it was a very

Dynamic environment because particularly

in those Middle School years fifth

through 8th grade keeping people engaged

and setting the tone that everybody in

the classroom needs to pay attention

nobody gets to make fun of it or have

the position of you know the kid who who

doesn't want to be there everybody needs

to be involved and so Kip is doing

it how does that compare to a normal

school well in a normal school teachers

aren't told how good they are the data

isn't

gathered in the teacher's contract it

will limit the number of times the

principal can come into the classroom

sometimes to once per year and they they

need advanced notice to do that so

imagine running a factory where you've

got these workers some of them just

making crap and the management is told

hey you can only come down here once a

year but you need to let us know because

we might actually do fool you and try

and do a good job in that one brief

moment even a teacher who wants to

improve doesn't have the tools to do it

they don't have the test scores and

there's a whole thing of of trying to

block the data for example New York

passed a law that said that the teacher

Improvement data could not be made

available and used in the tenear

decision for the

teachers and so that's sort of working

in the the opposite

direction but I'm optimistic about this

I think there's some clear things uh we

can do first of all there's a lot more

testing going on and that's given us the

picture of where we are and that allows

us to understand who's doing it well and

calling out and find out what those

techniques are of course digital video

is cheap now putting a few cameras in

the classroom and saying that things are

are being recorded on an ongoing basis

is very practical in all public schools

and so every few weeks teachers could

sit down and say okay here's a little

clip of something I thought I did well

here's a little clip of something I

think I did poorly advise me when this

kid acted up how should I have dealt

with that and they can all sit and work

together on those problems you can take

the very best teachers and kind of

annotate it have it so everyone sees Who

is the very best teaching the stuff you

can take those Great Courses and make

them available so that a kid could go

out and watch the physics uh course

learn from that if you have a kid who's

behind you would know you could assign

them that video to watch and review the

concept and in fact these three courses

could not only be available just on the

internet but you could make it so that

DVDs were always uh available and so

anybody who has access to a DVD player

can have the very best

teachers and so by thinking of this as a

a Personnel system we can do it much

better uh there's a book actually about

Kip the the place that this is going on

that J Matthews a news week reporter

wrote called work hard be nice and I

thought it was so fantastic gave you a

sense of what a good teacher does I'm

going to send everyone here a free copy

of this book

um now we put a lot of money into

education and I really think that

education is the most important thing to

get right uh for the country to have as

strong a future as it should have in

fact we have in the stimulus bill it's

interesting the house version actually

had money in it for these Data Systems

and uh was taken out in the Senate cuz

they're they're people are threatened by

these things but I I'm optimistic I

think uh people are beginning to

recognize uh how important this is and

it really can make a difference uh for

millions of lives if we get it

right well I only had time uh to frame

those two problems there's a lot more

problems like that uh AIDS pneumonia I

can just see you're getting excited uh

just at the the very name of these

things and the skill sets

required to to tackle these things are

very broad you know the system doesn't

naturally make it happen governments

don't naturally uh pick these things in

the right way uh the private sector

doesn't naturally put its its resources

into these things so it's going to take

brilliant people like you to study these

things get other people involved uh and

you're helping to come up with Solutions

and with that I think there's some great

things will come out of it thank you

thank

you thank you