According to the Star Telegram: "Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs lambasted teacher unions Friday, claiming no amount of technology in the classroom would improve public schools until principals could fire bad teachers."
Blaming teachers is nothing new. Dan Lortie described the phenomena in his 1975 book Schoolteacher: A sociological study (A 2002 edition is also available). According to Lortie, teaching looks easy because good teachers make teaching look easy.
Jobs extremely oversimplified view of the problems faced in public schools misses the mark. Yes, there are bad teachers and these teachers should be held accountable by being fired. However, there are many bad employees throughout the public school system. For example, bad principals are a problem because they have the ability to fire teachers - and yet they do not. Bad district personnel are a problem because they are overpaid to create plans for the district schools that are never implemented for the good of the students (eg. scripting v. teacher training). Bad parents are to blame because they ignore their children and demand teachers pamper rotten behavior. Bad community leaders are to blame because we choose to tolerate snots who run around neighborhoods with baseball bats and beat up our youth (eg. Gangs grow in areas where complacent neighbors hide from the reality that our youth are strong.) No. teachers are not to blame for a society complacent to watch television or surf the Internet rather than spend time with our youth.
First and foremost, anyone interested in public schools must understand that schools are not about education. Public schools are about keeping our youth locked out of the job market. Period.
No, Steve Jobs does not know what he is talking about but blaming teachers will always get an applause. After all, how many adults take responsibility for their own actions? Very few. How often have you gone to work and wondered how you could do your job better? Probably not.
Yet, we freely turn our attention to public schools in order to avoid looking within our own souls. In fact, if you really care about public schools then you will understand a purpose of schools is to dumb down society - and keep the youth out of the job market until they are taught to stand in line and fill out the proper form. Check out The Underground History of American Education for this point of view.
Teachers are not educators and never will be - they are hired baby-sitters to make sure Johnny doesn't read, while Sally gets shown how to flirt, while Peter runs around the hurdles to get to college, and you feel happy knowing the youth have not stolen your job.


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