No, I don't think your Bill Gates proposition is correct. I could elaborate, either from a psychology perspective or from an LOA perspective. But I have spent too much time explaining things to people in this forum recently.
The Rosenthal effect (also known as the Pygmalion effect) is well-known. Apart from the link I already provided, you can google and read up on it for yourself, from other sources.
Covert Communication in Classrooms, Clinics, and Courtrooms - Psi Chi Pygmalion effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The self-fulfilling prophecy or Pygmalion effect - corollaries
Professor Robert Rosenthal developed the experiment in the 1950s. It garnered him international recognition and fame, and the implications have been explored from many different sociological perspectives (eg would black or Hispanic students perform badly, because their teachers believe that black and Hispanic tend to perform badly etc).
Still alive and kicking today, Rosenthal enjoys a very distinguished reputation in psychology. His academic career includes more than 30 years as a professor at Harvard University (he was also the chairman of the psychology department there for seven years).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_..._(psychologist)