Zynga CEO's memo to employees: 'We have nothing to hide in our past'

The big red dog bites back. FarmVille maker Zynga came under fire recently from a Wall Street Journal report that claims CEO Mark Pincus and other executives asked early employees for their unvested stock or face termination. Now, Pincus has responded. Well, not directly, but to his employees. Fortune acquired the Zynga chief's memo to his staff of 2,000 plus.

"The wall street journal posted a story last night (copied below) which paints our meritocracy in a false and skewed light," the memo reads. "The story is based on hearsay and innuendo which is disappointing but is to be expected as we move towards becoming a public company."

The guy has a point: The media has employed a laser focus on Zynga since it revealed its intent to file for its initial public offering (IPO), but this report is by far the most ... unfortunate. Before receiving the memo, Fortune issued its own response to the WSJ report, looking to downplay the severity of the issue.

As the memo reads on, Pincus reminds his employees of Zynga's core values. More importantly, the Zynga chief says that Zynga has "nothing to hide." (But we're reminded of a certain TechCrunch story and video.) Read the memo in full below:

    Team,

    The wall street journal posted a story last night (copied below) which paints our meritocracy in a false and skewed light. The story is based on hearsay and innuendo which is disappointing but is to be expected as we move towards becoming a public company.

    We have nothing to hide in our past and present policies and I am proud of the ethical and fair way that we've built this company. As many of you have heard me say -- we're building a house that we want to live in.

    Being a meritocracy is one of our core values and it's on our walls. We believe that every employee deserves the same opportunity to lead. Its not about where or when you enter zynga its how far you can grow. This is what our culture of leveling up is all about and its one of our coolest features.

    we want everyone to put zynga first and contribute to the overall success of our company and all of you have.

Can social games improve schools? Zynga CEO Mark Pincus thinks so

Could you imagine earning points, badges and levels for good grades in school instead of just a boring letter or number? Zynga CEO Mark Pincus seems to think that this method could improve kids performance in school, as the FarmVille creator has recently given some financial oomph to Grockit, VentureBeat reports. This new San Francisco-based startup, which applies addictive social game mechanics to school work, has partnered with a high-profile charter school network known as KIPP to bring gamified SAT and ACT test preparations to three of its schools in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

VentureBeat reports that, because the Grockit platform is secure, it's a fine fit for the KIPP network, not to mention that Grockit can provide personalized instruction based on users' strengths and weaknesses. VentureBeat predicts that, if successful, the partnership could create a massive, online SAT/ACT preparation game for KIPP students nationwide.

And according to Grockit CEO Roy Gilber, the company is working on creating high school course programs, a place that some would argue is crying for change. Whether social game mechanics will improve students' interest and performance in school is something we won't see the results of for some time, but we gotta' try something, right?

Why do you think Mark Pincus is interested in such a program? Do you think social game elements are applicable to education? Will they make a positive or negative change?