People: Ted Dintersmith = A Mashup Of Bill Gates, Ken Robinson, & Bob Compton
So there's this guy, a former venture capitalist, named Ted Dintersmith, and apparently everyone else but me (and possibly you) has heard of him already.
But not to worry -- we can catch up quick. The latest thing I've seen (by which I mean the first) is this Answer Sheet oped penned by him (A venture capitalist searches for the purpose of school) but bylined by Valerie Strauss, in which we learn that he helped bankroll the documentary “Most Likely To Succeed” and get his world view of education (trailer above).
But Dintersmith's been everywhere, media-wise, in recent weeks and months, including a previous Valerie Strauss piece, Huff Post, Boston Globe (oped), NYTimes (Brooks review of the movie), a Politico mention, a Journal-Sentinel Q&A.
There's more, but you get the idea.
Get your own impression, but to me Dintersmith comes off like an unholy mashup of Bill Gates/WhitneyTilson/Sir Ken Robinson -- with maybe a bit of Bob (2 million minutes) Compton thrown in.
Truth is, I first came across his blog 3 years ago, when he was coming off a big trip with his family and spending time in NYC. Among the more memorable things he wrote at the time was his impression that of Michelle Rhee-run StudentsFirst organization, which described as "an angry dog barking up the wrong tree."
So that explains the appearances in the Answer Sheet.
To my credit (if not to the credit of my memory), I did apparently share out something about the documentary this spring:
New doc "Most Likely To Succeed" advocates for change but doesn't seem to have riled folks up http://t.co/ln9e1boc8a #mltsfilm
— alexanderrusso (@alexanderrusso) April 9, 2015
The website for the film is here. Here's a review of the book.
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