I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Ask Me Anything.

Mr. Gates, what do you think about creating a school through your foundation? Maybe throw a challenge of sort to human civilization as a social experiment? I believe there are many children in this disparate world with the drive to accomplish great things, yet the opportunity is not so equal to many children whose existence may not even be known outside of the confines of an unstable reality in which they live. I guess these children could be struggling in famine somewhere in Africa, or sleeping in fear every night wondering if they will even have a sunrise to wake up to per say, in Syria.

I personally believe that there is a very fine obscure line between greatness and mediocrity. For instance, every one of us walk on a very thin line. Most of us don't stray away from the paths paved in front of us by our predecessors, but every so often, you have outliers, those whom I would consider truly exemplary in our history. Among those such as Stephen Hawking, or Chuck Feeney, I would also consider you and Mrs. Gates as one of those outliers.

There was a dream I once had as an ambitious college student. I wanted to be rich, like you, but not because of the fame or the money for personal pleasure or material wants in this short life that I like to view as ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I realize as I get older that I am okay with being irrelevant, and that is okay with me. I have come to terms with that. But it still haunts me that I may not be able to contribute to society in a meaningful way before I die. My dream was to become rich, create a school in which funds would only be allocated from my wealth. I wanted to travel around the world and scout children to live and study in my school, in the best research facility and taught by the finest of teachers. I wanted teachers to be paid well, and for children who had the desire, but not necessarily the brightest minds, to have a chance at actualizing their potentiality. I've come to understand over the years, and through my own experiences, that it's not the genius who is truly formidable, but the resilient bookworm who never gives up on what drives him/her, who ends up creating the greatest of our innovations and progressive thoughts in our society.

So, how about it Mr. Gates? Do you think maybe you could become that beacon of light? Maybe change how we look at education, at least not in terms of dollars and enrollment, which has become a standard business model in today's American Academics? If your legacy lives in those children you nurture, that philosophy may carry over and your legacy will continue in those children's future. If they buy into your program, who knows? Maybe they will make sure your legacy lives on. But one thing's for certain. What "public" education was to be at the core of its foundation, is no longer existent and especially dead in this country.

/r/IAmA Thread