Philanthropy: The Second Annual Gates Letter [upd]

Forget the State of the Union -- take a look at Bill Gates' second annual letter on the state of the Bill Gates philanthropy empire.  It takes a few pages to get to the education parts, a vivid reminder that education is not one of Gates' top priorities.  In education, Gates focuses on how little feedback teachers get about their work compared to students and other workers and touts the big "deep dive" grant Gates made to Memphis, Tennessee; Hillsborough County, Florida; Pittsburgh; and Los Angeles schools last year.  I've got my fingers crossed, but there's a simplistic, childlike quality to the way Gates writes about education.  And it's frightening how little thought seems to go into Gates thinking about the political* and logistical challenges of what he's trying to do, and what happens after the grant money goes away. 

UPDATE:  *Matthew Yglesias makes a similar point here.