Steve Jobs on Obama, Teachers Unions, More...

[suitanim]

When he met Obama, he told him: "You're going to be a one-term President". That's because regulations and unions in the United States were crippling its ability to remain competitive with emerging powerhouses like China.

Also, teachers' unions "crippled" the education system in the United States. Among his requests to Obama were an 11-month school schedule, school days that last until 6 p.m. and a merit-based system for employing and firing teachers.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/steve...#ixzz1bQmd44ir


I wonder how the OWS crowd will feel about this? What about all the women teachers, with their Obama bumper stickers lovingly adorning their Honda Accords, complete with Ipods plugged into the stereos and ipads to grade homework on?

[fansince'76]

I wonder how the OWS crowd will feel about this?

Meh - to them Jobs was just "part of the problem" - an "evil, filthy rich, capitalist pig" (as they text away on their iPhones while listening to their iPods).

[suitanim]

Meh - to them Jobs was just "part of the problem" - an "evil, filthy rich, capitalist pig" (as they text away on their iPhones while listening to their iPods).

Actually, I think they loved and revered him. That crowd has no problem with cognitive dissonance, if you haven't noticed: "Anti-Capitalist Corporate Pig Hating Rally, sponsored by Moveon.org and Levi's. View our stream at Verizon.com, and send your donations to the UPS Store on Wall Street. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, and twitter #OWS"

[SteelerEmpire]

I thought jobs was an Obama supporter ? How things change... lol.

[The Patriot]

I thought jobs was an Obama supporter ? How things change... lol.

He does/did, but he was frustrated with his business policy. The OP article almost makes it sound like Jobs spat in the president's face.

Steve Jobs told President Obama that he was "headed for a one-term presidency" if he did not adopt more business friendly policies, according to a biography of the legendary Apple CEO to be released Monday. He even offered his assistance to avoid that outcome.

Jobs met the president in in the fall of 2010 and later offered to help make political advertisements for his re-election campaign. The book, based on interviews with Jobs, says the Apple CEO hoped the ads would do for Mr. Obama what the famous "morning in America" ads did for Ronald Reagan in his 1984 landslide re-election victory over Walter Mondale.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...nfuriated-him/

Make of it what you will.

[smokin3000gt]

So if Steve Jobs supported obama and thought his business policy was/is garbage then I'm not a racist because I feel the same way?

[GBMelBlount]

Also, teachers' unions "crippled" the education system in the United States. Among his requests to Obama were an 11-month school schedule, school days that last until 6 p.m. and a merit-based system for employing and firing teachers.

The teachers unions ruined the education system in this country.

Is there a single person on this site that disagrees?

[Count Steeler]

So if Steve Jobs supported obama and thought his business policy was/is garbage then I'm not a racist because I feel the same way?

No, that just means Jobs was a racist.

[zulater]

I wouldn't support an 11 month school year. This country's nearly 240 years old, and we've managed with a 9 1/2 month school year all this time, so I really don't think it's necessary. And my opinion has nothing to do with the teachers or their union, but rather the fact that you only get to be a kid once in your life, then you get a lifetime of being an adult. 9 1/2 months for a school year is more than enough time to do the job if it's done right.

[suitanim]

I wouldn't support an 11 month school year. This country's nearly 240 years old, and we've managed with a 9 1/2 month school year all this time, so I really don't think it's necessary. And my opinion has nothing to do with the teachers or their union, but rather the fact that you only get to be a kid once in your life, then you get a lifetime of being an adult. 9 1/2 months for a school year is more than enough time to do the job if it's done right.

Well....sort of. The original reason the 40-week school year was implemented was so kids could work on the farm for harvest in the summer. I'm guessing there's not a whole lot of that going on any more. We have the shortest school year among all the developed countries (About 180 days a year. Korea is about 270. Japan is 200 but they are in school for a full 8 hours a day, just as a couple of examples). There is a direct correlation between our shitty math and science scores and the amount of time kids take off school. Lots of studies show that like the first month back in the Fall is just ramping back up and getting kids back into the groove of learning.

Add in the fact that for the last 10,000 years people didn't have kids "so they could be kids" but to carry on the family business or as free workers (I'm not joking), and it punches more holes in that argument. It's actually almost a brand-new concept of letting kids be kids, probably less than 100 years old.

I think we need to have about 220 instructional days, and the school day should run from 8-4. The Teachers unions will, of course, hate this, but I would simply point to our ever-declining STEM scores against the rest of the civilized world and tell them to STFU.

Back to the OP, the biggest problem I see with the unions is their demands for 20-1 (or less) ratio of students-to-teachers. This has nothing to do with quality education, but everything to do with hiring more teachers to make the union stronger. In a school with 1000 kids, under their model, there needs to be 50 teachers, and for the sake of argument, lets say those teachers average 75k a year in income and benefits. That's 3.75 million a year just in salaries just in that one school.

Under the "Suitanim Education Reform Act", we drop that to 30-1. Everything else holds. That bumps us down to 34 teachers. Salaries drop to 2.5 million. I've just saved this school. 1.25 million a year. Extrapolate that out through the whole district, and we're talking MAJOR savings.