Michael Dell - Teacher Unions good....
What?! Is the world turning over???
PING!
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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."
Michael Dell - Teacher Unions good....
What?! Is the world turning over???
PING!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Just wait... Democrats/Liberals are going to insist that Steve Jobs submit to a DNA test to confirm that he hasn't been replaced by an alien, or Republican look-alike.
Me too, I'm totally confused now. I agree with Steve Jobs on something!
I just saw and privately scoffed at that Year of the Pig post and now I know I've met my DOOOOOM!!!!
Wait. Deep breath. I think I'll re-read it a few times. I must be missing something.
Wow.
I've always wanted to like Jobs. Maybe he's turning sane.
Bravo to Steve Jobs! The eleven years I worked in a school district personnel office, not one time, never was a teacher fired.
What is Algore going to say?
I'd buy a MacBoork Pro except I just got one.
Steve Jobs is an interesting guy. He has a passion for what he does which is oddly missing in Gates and Ballmer. Well, Gates and Ballmer have a passion for pushing out their product to as many people as possible, but Jobs has a passion for making a great product, pure and simple.
I may not like Jobs politics (well, except for this particular stand, which is great), but I love the man's passion for his product and doing things insanely great. He's definitely achieved his life goal and ironically enough I don't think Gates or Ballmer have done that.
D
Okay, I'll admit it, that's twice in 2007 Jobs has endeared himself to me. :') Of course, he may just be trying to take the heat off Segolene Royal...
why is apple better than a dell with bill's stuff ?
Wow. BTTT.
Youre calling windows 'safe'?
Of course it's safe. I have a windows machine that is unplugged from the network and is always shutdown. That thing never gets a virus or malware infection!
What do you mean? I am not talking about product specific. When a business gets to big per product, that product suffers. Either by any brilliant vision being suffocated or ridden down hill into oblivion. Your comment is to discuss the pros/cons of a specific product which has nothing to do with what I stated or the posters I responded to.
They don't get fired, period.....true. Shoot, when my #2 daughter was in high school (note that she is drop-dead gorgeous), she had a teacher hitting on her, making comments, ogling her, etc. I had her report him to the principal first (teaching her a lesson in 'escalation' of sexual harrassment........before I undertook to take the sumbitch apart myself). She did, they had words with him, and he still kept his job. Eventually he was gone, but it led me to wonder: what does it take to fire one of these idiots?
democrat, or republican, Jobs is right. the schools are screwed up, and the unions as a whole have outlived their usefulness.
Ping
Someone should send him the works of Milton Friedman.
Gore is going to try to bring back John Sculley. LOL
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!
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.
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.
HOLY CRAP! I might just go out and get myself a Mac after reading this!
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.
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?
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...
Did hell freeze over while I wasn't looking????
Age = Experience, does that.
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
I wouldn't bet on it. He might know how but not know why
Could be his Prostate Cancer diagnosis that's changed his reality.
I hope he's winning that battle.
B59
Actually, it was even worse... it was Pancreatic Cancer... very rare and usually fatal. He apparently did win the battle.
If it were easier to fire teachers, what guarantee would there be that the best would be retained? Who would judge them, and on what basis? How many good, experienced, but higher paid older teachers would be fired to make way for less costly, less experienced, and untested beginners?
well, not a lot.
Not a lot? You wrote that unions have outlived their usefulness, but you can't say what that usefulness was, other than: "Not a lot".
Not much in your hand.
just that they serve no useful purpose.
at one time they may have, better working conditions, etc, but they are useless, nothing more than political machines.
Not sure that they really ever were worth the dues the workers paid in for representation.
Do you think that working conditions, that are now enjoyed in the US, just... happened? A study of history will reveal that they were fought for, by organized labor.
Your reasoning reminds me of a man who hired a security guard to stop the thievery that was going on at his property. The thievery stopped, so he fired the guard.
oh, come on, it is getting late, I'm, not in the mood to argue.
Whatever.
Thanks for the clarification AND good news on his progress!
B59
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