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Apple CEO lambasts teacher unions
Austin, Texas, Star-Telegram ^ | 02/16/2007 | April Castro

Posted on 02/16/2007 8:15:54 PM PST by Swordmaker

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.

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."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Education
KEYWORDS: apple; appleinc; dell; education; jobs; michaeldell; publicschools; stevejobs; teachers; teacherunions; union; unions
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To: coconutt2000

democrat, or republican, Jobs is right. the schools are screwed up, and the unions as a whole have outlived their usefulness.


21 posted on 02/17/2007 12:00:08 AM PST by television is just wrong (Our sympathies are misguided with illegal aliens...)
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To: Lil'freeper

Ping


22 posted on 02/17/2007 5:01:35 AM PST by big'ol_freeper (It looks like one of those days when one nuke is just not enough-- Lt. Col. Mitchell, SG-1)
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To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
The next logical step is for him to take some of his billions and dump them into school choice scholarships.

Someone should send him the works of Milton Friedman.

23 posted on 02/17/2007 5:50:59 AM PST by Tribune7 (A bleeding heart does nothing but ruin the carpet.)
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To: miliantnutcase
Gore is gonna want an explanation from Jobs!

Gore is going to try to bring back John Sculley. LOL

24 posted on 02/17/2007 5:54:52 AM PST by Tribune7 (A bleeding heart does nothing but ruin the carpet.)
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To: Swordmaker

Even a liberal is capable of seeing the truth once in a while...

But in this case - I am very happy to hear this point of view!


25 posted on 02/17/2007 6:32:09 AM PST by TheBattman (I've got TWO QUESTIONS for you....)
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To: Swordmaker

Liberals who run businesses learn to live with a certain Cognitive Dissonance. It doesn't mean he's turning over a new leaf, but it is fascinating to watch.


26 posted on 02/17/2007 8:47:39 AM PST by impatient
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To: Swordmaker
This statement is consistent with his past comments on public school education.

Jobs is a longtime advocate of home schooling, and Apple has a homeschool page with product discounts.

Jobs has also spoken in favor of vouchers for private schools.

27 posted on 02/17/2007 8:58:05 AM PST by HAL9000 (Get a Mac - The Ultimate FReeping Machine)
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To: Swordmaker

HOLY CRAP! I might just go out and get myself a Mac after reading this!


28 posted on 02/17/2007 8:59:27 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Good night Chesty, wherever you are!)
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To: neb52

Thanks for clearing that up, I was trying to figure what you were talking about. I was under the impression you were talking about Microsoft's flagship product.


29 posted on 02/17/2007 9:06:15 AM PST by N3WBI3 ("Help me out here guys: What do you do with someone who wont put up or shut up?" - N3WBI3)
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To: Swordmaker
For more comments by Steve Jobs on his views of public schools, teacher unions, home schooling and private school vouchers, see this interview -

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.02/jobs_pr.html

Scroll down about halfway the page to this question - Could technology help by improving education?

30 posted on 02/17/2007 9:12:24 AM PST by HAL9000 (Get a Mac - The Ultimate FReeping Machine)
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To: Swordmaker
Textbooks would be replaced with a free, online information source that was constantly updated by experts...

Steve, you of all people should know that "there is no such thing as a 'free' lunch".Wiki needs to be viewed with the knowledge that content providers aren't paid; only the owners are making any money...

31 posted on 02/17/2007 10:04:53 AM PST by GoldCountryRedneck ("God made liquor and God made brew, so ugly people could have sex too" - unknown)
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To: Swordmaker

Did hell freeze over while I wasn't looking????


32 posted on 02/17/2007 10:33:46 AM PST by DesScorp (.)
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To: RightOnline
my #2 daughter was in high school (note that she is drop-dead gorgeous)

Watch out for the "innocent/guilty" contingent on FR.
33 posted on 02/17/2007 12:00:39 PM PST by Terpfen (Got a problem? It's now Pelosi's fault!)
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To: Tribune7
Someone should send him the works of Milton Friedman.

Pretty sure he's familiar with those already, given the success of the business he operates.
34 posted on 02/17/2007 12:09:56 PM PST by Terpfen (Got a problem? It's now Pelosi's fault!)
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To: George W. Bush
Hmm... Steve is on a roll lately. New meds?

He's always been like this - he hates incompetence. He surrounds himself with people who hate it as well - when Pixar sort of took over Disney's animation department (however that all worked out), Job's buddy who ran Pixar and who now runs the Disney animation stuff immediately started closing down projects that were in production - I think he closed down a Toy Story, among other movies. His view was you either do it right or you don't do it, end of story.

It's funny that Apple has this image of some kind of hippy company, but the reality is, they have more business savvy than companies 10 times their size.
35 posted on 02/17/2007 12:10:17 PM PST by af_vet_rr
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To: George W. Bush
"Hmm... Steve is on a roll lately. New meds?"

Age = Experience, does that.

36 posted on 02/17/2007 12:13:17 PM PST by blam
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To: neb52

Actually, design by committee has allowed plenty of products to be introduced that should have never seen the light of day. I'd consider the Zune to be a good counter example of a product introduced by a "safe" company that just was not good enough for the marketplace.

By contrast, even Apple's flops have attracted groups of loyal users. If you want to stick with the Jobs era, the G4 Cube is probably the best example. There are still people who love their Cubes and who have upgraded the processors to make a more modern computer out of them.

Really, it's been a long time since Apple's had a product that was a complete failure in the marketplace. Steve learned from his mistakes. In the case of the Cube it was a product that was had maybe 50% of the PowerMac's functionality at 75% of the price, never a good sign.

You could certainly call the Mac Mini a worthy successor to the Cube and it's been a hit. Getting costs down was the big key.

D


37 posted on 02/17/2007 12:21:43 PM PST by daviddennis (If you like my stuff, please visit amazing.com, my new social networking site!)
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To: Terpfen
Pretty sure he's familiar with those already, given the success of the business he operates.

I wouldn't bet on it. He might know how but not know why

38 posted on 02/17/2007 12:37:41 PM PST by Tribune7 (A bleeding heart does nothing but ruin the carpet.)
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To: RightOnTheLeftCoast

Could be his Prostate Cancer diagnosis that's changed his reality.

I hope he's winning that battle.

B59


39 posted on 02/17/2007 1:56:34 PM PST by Barney59 ("Amen")
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To: Barney59
"Could be his Prostate Cancer diagnosis that's changed his reality."

IIRC it was a rare form of pancreatic cancer, and his prognosis was good. Hope so.
40 posted on 02/17/2007 4:08:58 PM PST by RightOnTheLeftCoast ([Hunter/Rumsfeld 2008!])
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