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Want better schools? Dump the unions.

February 18, 2007

Steve Jobs and Michael Dell, in a joint appearance, met in Austin to discuss how to improve public education in the United States.  Jobs spent most of his time suggesting unions were the problem, while Dell explained that unions were helping teachers (he never addressed whether or not they were any good for kids). 

Jobs asked, "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?  Not really great ones because if you’re really smart you go, ‘I can’t win.  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."

If you can’t fire bad teachers you will end up with more and more bad teachers.  Ever heard of the ‘one bad apple’ idea?  Of course, it isn’t just the teachers.  Last month two Dallas area principals were asked to resign over purchases they made using their district provided credit cards.  Principal Govan of Maceo Smith spent $236,000 on his card to purchase everything from furniture to flat-screen TVs.  Ardis McCann, principal of Sprice High spent $266,000 on his card to pruchase everything from pizza to wedding flowers and shoes.  They both refused and still serve in their positions.  It may take up-to a year to remove them, if they are removed at all. 

Written by Alexander Muse · Filed Under Blog 

Comments

3 Responses to “Want better schools? Dump the unions.”

  1. JM Says:
    February 18th, 2007 at 7:37 pm

    Everybody has an idea on how to reform education but nobody wants to be a teacher being paid very little to educate kids some of whom don’t give a damn and are disrespectful. I wonder whether Steve knows that his own kids’ teachers probably have to drive 2 or 3 hours each way every day because they just cannot afford to live in the Bay Area. What a joke.

  2. Alexander Muse Says:
    February 18th, 2007 at 8:47 pm

    Who CAN afford to live in the Bay Area?

  3. Cheyne Rood Says:
    February 19th, 2007 at 2:30 pm

    Right on Alex - the unions are a HUGE problem. You mentioned how bad teachers cannot be properly dealt with, but equally egregious is that the good teachers can’t be properly recognized and compensated.

    To acknowledge the comment above — I don’t think it was suggested that, by dissolving unions, teachers would be paid less. Rather, seniority and degree-level would no longer be the sole basis of pay scale. Great teachers should be rewarded with great compensation.

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