Forums | MacLife

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/new … 717129.htm

AUSTIN - Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs lambasted teacher unions Friday, claiming no amount of technology in the classroom would improve public schools until principals could fire bad teachers.

He is 100% correct.
He has the balls to say it.

Teachers educate, not software and hardware.

Last edited by resedit (2007-02-21 5:10 pm)

I read the article and I don't see what he said wrong. What did he say that was untrue?

Dell made the statement that has a problem. He said that Unions have made things better for the employees. That sounds good except that schools are about the students not the teachers. Good teachers should deffinitely be paid more, but bad teachers should be dumped. The principal should have the ability to do what they need to do. Reward those who do good. Let go of those that don't.

And while I'm on the subject, students should be put in their place and give some authority back to the teachers.




-exit soap box-

I don’t believe Mr. Jobs was “trashing” teachers per se, but the teacher’s “union” and what he believes the collectivism of such an entity has done to the institution of education. Personally, I don’t mind seeing one of social liberalism’s biggest champions be skewered by a liberal worker’s group, but I can’t stand by and watch “anyone” be crucified for something they didn’t actually say. The outrage should not be that Mr. Jobs attacked teachers, for he did not. The outrage should be that he attacked a socialist worker’s union, which is a sacred cow of liberalism and Mr. Jobs claims to be a loyal liberal. The Bill Gates approach to sorting our education woes, a “Government Solution”, is much more pleasing, anything to expand government and create more legislation, eh? I am sorry to see Mr. Jobs has lost points to Mr. Gates in the “Who Wants to be a Better Socialist Billionaire” contest. I fear our beloved leader is due for some old-fashioned, Cambodian-style, re-education!

Kirk wrote:

I agree with the teacher's union being a problem.  However until teachers are paid more, the public is going to get what they pay for' in the quality of the teaching provided.'  Address both issues, not just the politically correct first issue.

This is a big issue. k12 education is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Other reason, this is particularly true in the sciences, is that the bureaucracy/nosey parents require arbitrary standards which force students into memorization. Science isn't memorizing the handbook that some special interest, who is a friend of Jim Bob at the district headquarters, sold to the district.

In fact, the over reliance on technology and power point is a great example of this. The tech companies lobby to get the district to fork over tons of money to buy these machines so they can parade them around to their tax payers as bringing education into the 21st century or some such nonsense.

K12 needs not only to pay well but it needs to take the shackles off the good teachers. Standards aren't always bad, I'm not arguing that. But requiring all the kids memorize all of the organelles in the cell after memorizing the basic structure of the atom is only results in confusion (such as people thinking the nucleus of a cell being composed of protons) and no real learning. How is your kid memorizing random facts that wikipedia could tell them (most of the time) useful to them and society? It isn't.

Public education is great, but special interests need to keep their nose out of it.

Agreed! There needs to be reforms in all aspects of the education system.

I agree with Jobs and Dell.  We need better teachers, the Union needs to be busted entirely, and a more effective system put in place.

Very small ideas, but some things I'd like to see:

1.  Reintroduce more social activity such as Physical Education and laboratories.  Children need to interact directly with other children and need a friggin' mental break during the day.

2.  Bring back genuine formal grammar instruction.  It's one thing to have a problem spelling, but everyone should be able to put together an intelligent sentence that requires no interpretation.

3.  Elementary math drills.  They're called drills for a reason.  A child entering high school should not have to calculate a math table in his head or on paper.  Can you imagine how difficult it must be for a child to factor a trinomial without a solid mathematics background?

4.  Drop the "No Child Left Behind" program.  Instead of requiring all students to maintain a minimum level, why not push to have as many excel as possible?  Keep the remedial system.  It's required.  Slower learning students need an environment to excel at their individual level.  Faster students need not be held back to achieve a fictional and unrealistic standard.  It's as much a disservice to prevent a top student from realizing his potential as it is a student who struggles.

In NC, teachers aren't allowed to unionize, and our education system isn't exactly a beacon of hope to the rest of the country. I don't see how unions could be solely to blame.

why do I think i have been transported to MiniThink?

how about continue over there should anyone wish.

not enough tech in it

well it's taken on an MT feel to it, so here it is.

I agree with him about technology in the classroom being a waste of money.

In California schools get forced by the state to buy computers even if they're lacking basic supplies like desks and textbooks. It's ridiculous.

Computers are next to useless in the classroom. Expensive, hard-to-maintain technology that just distracts the students away from the curriculum.

The internet can be useful for research purposes, but that's why they have computers in public libraries.