Apple CEO Jobs attacks teacher unions
Associated Press
AUSTIN — Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs lambasted teacher unions today, claiming no amount of technology in the classroom would improve public schools until principals could fire bad teachers.
Jobs compared schools to businesses with principals serving as CEOs.
“What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldn’t get rid of people that they thought weren’t any good?” he asked to loud applause during an education reform conference.
“Not really great ones because if you’re really smart you go, ‘I can’t win.’”
In a rare joint appearance, Jobs shared the stage with competitor Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Inc. Both spoke to the gathering about the potential for bringing technological advances to classrooms.
“I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way,” Jobs said.
“This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy.”
At various pauses, the audience applauded enthusiastically. Dell sat quietly with his hands folded in his lap.
“Apple just lost some business in this state, I’m sure,” Jobs said.
Dell responded that unions were created because “the employer was treating his employees unfairly and that was not good.”
“So now you have these enterprises where they take good care of their people. The employees won, they do really well and succeed.”
Dell also blamed problems in public schools on the lack of a competitive job market for principals.
Earlier in the panel discussion, Jobs told the crowd about his vision for textbook-free schools in the future. Textbooks would be replaced with a free, online information source that was constantly updated by experts, much like the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
“I think we’d have far more current material available to our students, and we’d be freeing up a tremendous amount of funds that we could buy delivery vehicles with — computers, faster Internet, things like that,” Jobs said. “And I also think we’d get some of the best minds in the country contributing.”
Full article here.
Update: More here.
hmmm… Jobs would make even more money on that…how convenient.
On the contrary, Jobs donates, free of charge, much Apple equipment to schools.
Hah… Steve Jobs has been known for physically abusing former employees. He is kind of boss that warrants a need for unions… or an armed workforce.
Well Dell CEO agrees with him and Dell CEO is top notch.
I agree with the article to the point that we should be a less dependent paper society.
It’s been done at the patent office.
The “article” should have chosen a better comparison than to choose Wikipedia as the standard.Wikipedia is having its own problems right now. “http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/555755.html”
“http://www.technewsworld.com/story/56193.html”
In Jobs’s world all teachers would be designed in California and made in China.
Get real. In this country NO ONE works for Jobs, or Dell, or anyone else against his will. For 99.9% of us there’s always a better boss awaiting somewhere.
Re the Wikipedia “problems”–these folks think it stacks up reasonably well:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4530930.stm
And–it updates much more often than Britannica!
“It is based on wikis, open-source software which lets anyone fiddle with a webpage, anyone reading a subject entry can disagree, edit, add, delete, or replace the entry.”
Gustavo,
Whats wrong with that? Schools are there for students, not for teachers. If such a method makes for better teachers (at the benefit of the students), I too would be all for it.
Wow! I used to have respect for Steve Jobs-not so much for Michael Dell. More “experts” with all the answers to fixing schools. Yep, it must only be the school’s fault. Firing teachers and blaming unions is such a simple, and I might add ignorant, solution. I am the first to admit that bad teachers should go. But this leads to defining what a bad teacher is. Is it only test scores, which gives a certain advantage to more affluent school? Or for moral or ethical indiscretions, which is a no brainer.
Unions don’t exist only to enrich teachers. This sentiment originated from the anti-public school crowd (and Voucher proponents- HP:).
I have heard the “business” model for running schools before. (Actually, I first heard this about 10 years ago.) A story may illustrate the point. Business CEO’s hire the best that they are willing to pay for (which may not always be the best possible employee-think of some employees at various retailers.) These employees produce products from the “raw materials” needed. In schools, the CEO would be the Principal, the employee would be the teacher, and the material would be the student. If different businesses (schools) were to produce, say clothing, would each business be able to produce equal quality clothing. No. If one company has a fine wool to make pants, how much would these pants sell for? If another only had linen, what would these sell for? Both may be of exceptional quality, but will sell for different prices. Would the linen pants CEO be a failure because he or she only made $10 for each pair, while the other made a profit of $30? Obviously, the linen pants CEO is a faiure, since he didn’t reach the mandated $30 profit level.
Most critics of public schools probably have never been inside one to see the real work going on. School success starts before a student ever spends one minute at school. Family, neighborhood, family literacy, family linguistic abilities, etc. play a huge part. It is easy to say that one is a proponent of students. But remember, teachers are not the enemy, as is so often the case with the so-called reformers. Yes, I have read Harvard professor Caroine Hoxby’s work. I find her reasoning lacking. Just creating competiton for students via vouchers is a joke. Extra money for a special eduaction student will not create a demand for these students. Most private schools are not tested like public schools to verify proficency of teaching. (For example, the Catholic Church we attend has a school. Walk the hallways and look at the work-impressive, if you think plagarism is acceptable.) Also, studies have shown there is not a lot of open spaces in these schools. The dollar amount offered per student would not cover expansion or new school openings.
One huge point that people don’t realize is what is required for a second language learner to be successful. These students need to progress at a rate of 1 1/2 to 2 years each year to be on grade level by the end of elementary school. Add in a lack of primary language in many students and a new picture emerges. Failing schools often are amazing schools.
To close, more information (such as the noted database of knowledge) is useless if students don’t learn to read with fluency and comprehension. Many student fail to progress in reading because they lack books at home or a home environment that fosters reading. Students are taught reading at school; proficency is built with practice outside of school. But it is easier to blame unions, teachers, and so forth instead of looking at the larger picture. Children reflect many of the values of their community-good and bad. Want to “fix” schools? Fix the communtity.