Steve Jobs, Proud to Be Nonunion

[Nomad559]

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,72754-0.html?tw=rss.technology

Steve Jobs makes a lot of sense when he's talking about music and copyright protection, but when the topic is schools, he seems to be on a different planet. The teachers' unions, Jobs believes, are ruining America's schools because they prevent bad teachers from being fired.

"I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way," the Apple CEO told a school-reform conference in Texas on Saturday. "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."

Jobs knows a lot about schools; he's been selling computers to them for more than 30 years. But don't you love it when a billionaire who sends his own kids to private school applies half-baked business platitudes to complex problems like schools? I'm surprised Jobs didn't suggest we outsource education to the same nonunion Chinese factories that build his iPods.

Jobs has also been a longtime advocate of a school voucher system, another ridiculous idea based on the misplaced faith that the mythical free market will fix schools by giving parents choice.

[progdonkey]

1. just goes to show...

people can be smart and savvy in one area, but total idiots in others.

[madrchsod]

2. i bet 95% of the people that have worked

for him went to public schools.

[rpannier]

3. Jobs is another classic example that being knowledgeable in one thing does not mean you know

anything about something else.

Look at all these guys that buy sports teams and insist on using their "tested models of corporate leadership" and fail miserably.

jobs needs to stick to what he knows and STFU about stuff he doesn't fully understand.

[Skink]

4. Steve Jobs Republican...Sad.

[Skarbrowe]

5. My step nephew got a two year chemical engineering degree

back in the late 70s', early 80's. Not long after he got his degree he made 80 grand a year working for a chemical company. I've known teachers that have had at least 5 years of college that wouldn't get near 80 grand a couple years after getting their degrees, TODAY.

In my opinion, you get what you pay for. I know there are teachers that probably shouldn't be teaching. There are people in just about any profession that shouldn't be there. Can you imagine what the states would try to pay teachers if they didn't have a union? Maybe Steve Jobs has taken a much closer look than I have, but I know several teachers and I hear much more about teachers burning out, quiting, getting sick, getting beaten up by students, being lied about by students, all kinds of unimaginable things to put up with day after day, than I do schools having to put up with lousy teachers. Again, I know there are people teaching that shouldn't be, but thank GOD the teachers have a union. Now, if the states would just use the carrot approach instead of the
stick to beat the unions with and make the profession of teaching a high paying desirable job, the obvious outcome would be more qualified college students fighting for these jobs, raising the level of education for students going to college for teaching and, well, maybe they wouldn't be complaining so much about bad teachers and their awful unions. I remember when the nursing shortage caused most nursing schools to take nothing but the cream of the crop into their nursing programs because so many people were going into nursing because the pay had gone up.

Geez. This county just voted to give ( I had to edit this, it is not 25% it is a 5% raise to the top arbitrarily picked 25% of teachers who can get their FCAT (state standard testing reading and math scores up.) So the teachers who are in the neighborhoods that have caring and concerned parents and students willing to learn will get raises. Teachers that are trying to do their best in the lower performing schools and giving sometimes actual blood, sweat and tears will get nothing but possible harassment
to force them to quit. Also, the teachers in the lower performing schools are going to do everything they can to be transfered to the better performing schools. Talk about leaving a whole bunch of children behind!

What does a teacher do when they are given students who don't speak English, have no idea where their parents are, ditch school 80% of the time and could care less about their high school educations? Does Steve Jobs know that these teachers are calling these parents if they've been given a correct phone number. Does he know that some of these teachers are even reaching out to friends of some students to track down their parents and let them know how their students are doing? Hours and hours of extra time and energy are expended by a good number of caring teachers and, yes, they do get a couple months off in the summer if they can afford to not have another job lined up. Most teachers I know do it because they love teaching. They love at least thinking that they are making a difference in some young persons life. Some do, after a few years or sometime months of agony, fall
into a dazed indifference and just try and stay till the next paycheck.


State mandated testing has eliminated almost all vocational subjects in high schools including computer related courses. Merit pay is based on teaching for math and reading tests promising to eliminate the curriculum in the few remaining classes. Where are our next computer experts going to come from so Steve Jobs can hire them. HINT (0ther countries)

No, let's just blame it all on the unions forcing the schools to keep bad teachers. These "bad teachers" are going to be all that's left in most of the inner city and even some suburban schools in the counties that vote to give raises ONLY to teachers who can get their students grades so high. Maybe that's the plan. Break the public school system to pieces and then make American education a "for profit" business. They've already found out charter schools don't perform any better with the same type of students. But, hell, there's money to be made and you can fire anyone any time you want. That'll make it all better.