Replies to post #66344 on Apple Inc (AAPL)

[KCMW]

RE: Steve Jobs on edu

Interesting. I did a news search on the topic, and somewhat ironically, Rush Limbaugh is covering the story and praising Jobs for his statements.

There is so much emotion, and so few facts around this topic. Anywhere it gets reported where there is a comment section, the comments quickly grow to the hundreds. Probably 99% of them are emotional, and off-topic from Jobs comment that a school needs to be able to fire bad teachers.

You get everything in those comments - teachers paid too much/little, teaching job is harder/easier than the average Joe, teachers work more/fewer hours than average Joe, teachers get better/worse benefits than average Joe. Teachers are more important than other occupations (tell me that when your sewer line is clogged, or you need a root canal!). More money solves all problems (!).

I got involved in a debate like this on another forum. Very few people can come to grips with a simple fact - in a free market, if the combination of pay/benefits/conditions/hours/status/satisfaction/security/etc (the 'whole package' that a job/career has to offer) is sufficient to attract enough qualified people to fill the jobs, then the pay, by definition is adequate. If you can't attract enough qualified people, then some or all of those issues need to be addressed, and it might not be money.

I think one reason you get such a range of opinions, besides people either being in or outside the profession, is that funding varies widely across school districts, so conditions vary widely. What is true in one is not true in another (maybe nearby) district. It's emotional, because we all pay for education through our taxes, have little we can do about it, and we care about the education our kids (or the kids in our area) receive.

Bottom line, I agree with Jobs - if a principal/admin (CEO) is handcuffed in firing a bad employee, it makes it hard for the district to attract qualified leaders. It hurts kids, it hurts good teachers. I have no idea if that is the number one problem in edu today, or if it is a widespread problem. Maybe it was not appropriate for him to address it at that conference. But, it is a problem, IMO.

-KCMW

[roni]

As an academic professional non-teaching member of the local college level faculty union - I gotta say I like my union contract a lot. Teachers and workers in general need some level of protection from the capricious acts of management. While there is some level of protection for the burn-outs, it is, IMO, highly overstated by union opponents, who will now praise Jobs and try to adopt him.

Maybe he shoulda stuck to back-dating options.