Say Anything Blog

A few days ago I posted on comments made by Apple CEO Steve Jobs about teachers unions.  Basically, Jobs opined that no amount of technology in the classroom is going to improve America’s education system until public schools are freed from union contracts that prevent them from getting rid of less-than-competent teachers.

His statement, a rather odd one coming from the chief executive of a company that made it’s bones selling computer systems to schools around the nation, has been quoted far and wide since, but probably one of my favorite reactions comes from Matt Buchanan at the usually superb Gizmodo gadget blog, who is a little late to the party given that these comments hit the ‘net three days ago.

Here’s what Buchanan had to say in an article titled “Well, Maybe Steve Jobs Doesn’t Know Everything”:

I don’t necessarily think that selling equipment to schools gives you an inherent knowledge about the way the education system works—which ultimately seems to be Kahney’s point. There’s a lot more behind education problems than teachers’ unions.

What’s interesting about this incident (and reaction to it) is that it pokes a little hole in the mythos that Jobs has managed to craft for himself over the last couple of years—that unerring, uncanny intuition about the way the world works, the secret sauce in the Apple recipe, looks a little less uncanny, less scarily perceptive. The man has emerged from behind the myth, at least for a day.

So, because Jobs dared to challenge a liberal article of faith (unions are good!) he’s suddenly not as smart as everyone previously thought?  That sounds a bit…shrill.  And petty.  Especially from a writer who, apparently, has a lot of respect for Jobs’ intelligence otherwise.  And given the outrageous success of the iPod and the iTunes music store, who doesn’t have a lot of respect for the man?

And what’s this about his 30 years of experience in selling computers to schools not qualifying him to talk about unions?  I think that’s rather qualifying, but even discounting that how about Jobs’ thirty years of experience running a major American corporation?  A job that has undoubtedly called on him to hire and fire thousands?  I think Jobs knows a thing or two about on the job productivity and firing those who don’t produce.  You don’t get to where he’s at without knowing such things.

Personally, I thought Jobs was spot-on in his comments despite Mr. Buchanan’s assertion that there are more problems with our schools than unions.  What Jobs’ complaint about teachers’ unions boiled down to is this: accountability.  Any successful enterprise needs it, but unions hate it because it often costs them dues-paying members.

As an example, look at how teacher unions have opposed school voucher programs here in the U.S.  We often hear about how low the U.S. ends up on international standardized test rankings below countries like Belgium and Sweden.  So what’s the difference between their schools and ours?  It certainly isn’t money.  The U.S. spends more per student on education than any other nation in the world.  And I don’t think anyone would buy into the idea that Belgian or Swedish students and teachers are smarter than their counterparts here in the U.S., so what is it?

It’s school vouchers.  Both of those nations have successful voucher programs that tie education funding to the student instead of the school.  What this does is create competition between schools for students, which in turn leads to administrators and teachers who strive for excellence because, well, their jobs depend on it.

But unions oppose school vouchers, for obvious reasons.  It would mean that bad teachers would have to be fired so that schools could better compete for students, and fewer teachers on the payrolls means fewer dues for the union.

Down in Florida Jeb Bush created a limited vouchers program that allowed the parents of students who attended failing state schools to send their child to any other school of their choice.  The results were amazing, particularly among minority children:

While the percentage of white third-graders reading at or above grade level has increased to 78% from 70% in 2001, the percentage among Hispanic third-graders has climbed from 46% to 61%, and among blacks from 36% to 52%. Graduation rates for Hispanic students have increased from 52.8% before the program started to 64% today; and for black students from 48.7% to 57.3%. Minority schoolchildren are not making such academic strides anywhere else.

Unfortunately, even this limited voucher program drew the ire of teachers unions and, ironically, minority advocacy groups.  The program was ended by a lawsuit from the teachers’ union and said minority groups.

So when Mr. Buchanan says that unions aren’t the biggest problem with America’s education system he’s flat out wrong.  The only thing keeping our students behind those of other nations is lack of accountability for teachers and administrators in our unionized public school monopolies.  Remove the unions from that equation and I guarantee you our schools would thrive.

Jobs’ comments were insightful and spot-on, and they deserve better than a knee-jerk panning from some tech writer.  A tech writer who, I might add, would do well to listen to Jobs as closely on this issue as he clearly does on issues more tech-related.