Think Different
Apple CEO says unionization of public schools "off- the-charts crazy"
by Matthew Ladner, Ph.D.
The Goldwater Institute
February 21, 2007
Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently provided a bracingly honest appraisal of the education system at a conference in Austin. Mr. Jobs, a registered Democrat, stated that no amount of technology in the classroom will improve public schooling until principals have the ability to fire bad teachers:
"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?"
"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."
The computer industry contrasts starkly with the public education system. The computer market continuously creates products of increasing quality and decreasing prices. Public schools, by contrast, have achieved precisely the opposite: stagnating quality and increasing cost.
Mr. Jobs points an accusatory finger at the education unions, the T-Rex of education politics, and justifiably so. To modernize K-12 education, we desperately need more school options and merit pay for teachers. Imagine the possibilities.
Matthew Ladner, Ph.D., is vice president for research at the Goldwater Institute.
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