Steve Jobs Takes on Education

In this story from The New York Sun, Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs points out the obvious regarding the state of the government monopoly school system and some of the reasons for its systemic failure. Rush talked about this on his show, noting that Mr. Jobs will probably not come in for a great deal of criticism due to his liberal political leanings. And indeed, there has been very little from Dinosaur media in the form of critical commentary since it was first reported.

But perhaps more important than the political aspect of this story, is the place that Mr. Jobs and Apple hold in the modern information based economy which we are all now enjoying and from which we have derived so much benefit. If there is any company which can be said to be forward thinking and known for its dedication to innovation and excellence, it would be Apple. And so it should matter that Steve Jobs, who is responsible for so much of Apple's success, should have something to say about an institution which is not only failing in the most dramatic of ways, but is also mired in the past and which has changed and adapted so little from the days of its first inception. The education monopoly has resisted both change as well as innovation.

The schools have largely become institutions for the liberal indoctrination of the students, who are literally a captive audience, having been collected through the force of law and whose parents have no choice about paying for a product that they may, or may not, have approved. The real and necessary job of educating students in serious subjects has been replaced with fashionable nonsense and political correctness while math, science, literature and history languish. It is any wonder that so many kids are unable to even read their diplomas at graduation time? And is anyone really surprised that businesses and corporations are finding it more and more difficult to hire qualified applicants who, all too often, have difficulty with basic math, science and grammar?

The education system should be taken out of the hands of the government and completely privatized so that it will have to actually compete and demonstrate real results instead of serving as a political platform for people who cannot find real employment elsewhere.

Steve Jobs has guts — enough guts to speak his mind about what he thinks is wrong with public education even at the risk of harming his business interests.

In a speech on Friday, the chief executive officer of Apple and Disney honcho declared: "I believe that what's wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way."

The problem with unionization, Mr. Jobs argued, is that it has constrained schools from attracting and retaining the best teachers and from dismissing the less effective ones. This, in turn, deters quality people from seeking to become principals and superintendents. "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? Not really great ones because if you're really smart you go, ‘I can't win,'" Mr. Jobs said. He concluded by saying, "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."