More on Steve Jobs, Public schools, and Teachers' Unions

As we mentioned last week Steve Jobs recently said what many parents believe with:

“I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way. This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy.”

His main point is teachers’ unions are overly protective of bad teachers. He, like many parents whose children have suffered from a bad teacher, says principals need to be able to fire bad teachers.


The attack:

It has been fascinating to me that many of the arguments against Steve Jobs don’t address his central point, that teachers’ unions are defending bad teachers and thus the children suffer. Instead they attack Steve Jobs, or change the focus of the debate.

The California Federation of Teachers attacks Steve by saying that Apple has used pictures in the “think different” marketing of people who were pro-union. Think about the logic of this attack. Because Apple used a picture of Cesar Chavez, some how what Steve Jobs said isn’t true. Or because Albert Einstein was a member of a teacher’s union, some how we are suppose to disbelieve that modern day teachers’ unions don’t protect bad teachers. I must have missed the day this type of logic was taught in public school.

Leander Kahney dismisses Steve’s claim by saying:

“The issues are many and complex, and yes, there is a problem with firing incompetent or indifferent teachers, but it is not the No. 1 reason schools are failing. It's not even in the top 10.”

He then goes on to say:

“In California, the most pressing problems are schools that are too big, too bureaucratic and chronically under-funded. Teachers are criminally low paid and under-trained. Education -- and school funding -- has become solely about test scores.”

In many ways saying that schools are too bureaucratic is acknowledging that in dealing with unions public schools have been forced to have thousands of rules. To get rid of a bad teachers takes dozens of forms, and thousands of hours.

As has been pointed out recently, teachers receive a decent salary. So I have to wonder if Leander really understands the current state of public education.

This was one of my favorites, ignore what Steve is saying, because he is a billionaire and sends his children to private schools. Think about the logic in that. You are not allowed to speak the truth, because you don’t allow your children to suffer in a public school.


The defense:

My impression is that about two thirds of the comments from average citizens are in support of Steve’s comments. A lot of the news coverage is fairly supportive.

For Everything Alabama had a recent report on the declining state of public education: National test results tell the same old story. The article concludes with the quote from Steve Jobs on teachers’ unions and says:

“He's right: Powerful teachers' unions like the Alabama Education Association are a major obstacle to reform. They defend the mediocre status quo by fighting off proposals for merit pay and other measures that would truly put children first in the education system.”

Another Arik Hesseldahl says that Steve deserves a huge “atta boy” and goes on to explain that Steve and his wife are very involved in education. They are on various boards. Steve is speaking as one who is informed.

And one comment we’ve gotten so far agrees that Steve is dead on.


The Future:

It has been a week since Steve Jobs pointed out that the Emperor has no clothes. Most people agree that keeping bad teachers in public schools is bad for the children, and that the biggest reason bad teachers stay is because of teachers' unions.

My prediction is this will die off. Steve Jobs is focused on running Apple Inc. I doubt he will spend a significant amount of time, at least at this point in his life, trying to fix public education.

The Teacher’s Union has responded, but I think they’ll be careful about following up. It could stir up a hornet’s nest. There are tens of thousands of loyal Apple users; many of them support Steve Jobs. A majority of parents recognize that keeping bad teachers in public schools is wrong. And even many teachers are frustrated with how unions protect bad teachers.


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Technorati tags: education, public education, Steve Jobs, teacher, teacher unions