A clear vision is usually assumed and rarely communicated.
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Steve Jobs Education Critique: Some Comments
It's unusual for me to write multiple commentaries based on a published biography, but then Steve Jobs is not your typical businessman. His product announcements became media events, somewhat what similar to Rawlings' Harry Potter releases.
I think it's interesting to see how other creative people think and approach some issues, including public education: too much, too little? too structured, too unstructured? We have this insight:
The recently deceased Jobs also told Obama that the education system was “crippled by union work rules,” according to Isaacson. Jobs proposed principals be able to hire and fire teachers based on merit, and to extend the length of both the school day and academic year.First, Jobs is looking how to make the process more manageable and accountable; second, he's trying to make the process more competitive, efficient and effective. For example, knowing the limitations of human memory, longer periods (e.g., summer) often require a rehash of just learned material.
What particularly got my attention was this quote
Isaacson’s biography reveals that Jobs also targeted the textbook industry for transformation and met with major textbook publishers to discuss a partnership with Apple. “He believed it was an $8 billion a year industry ripe for digital destruction,” Isaacson writes. “His idea was to hire great textbook writers to create digital versions, and make them a feature of the iPad.” “The process by which states certify textbooks is corrupt,” Jobs told Isaacson. “But if we can make the textbooks free, and they come with the iPad, then they don’t have to be certified. The crappy economy at the state level will last for a decade, and we can give them an opportunity to circumvent that whole process and save money.”I would like to see more context for what exactly he means is 'corrupt'. He once used that term to describe Apple management at the time of his termination. This intrigues me because I reviewed 2 or 3 textbooks while I was a UWM faculty member. 'Corrupt' can refer to something like sweetheart deals between publishers and the government. It can also refer to intrinsic defects. My background research on some of these issues in the science and mathematics area leads to critiques like a splintered vision. and another nice summary of textbook issues here. Some of the relevant issues include: a wide but thin coverage of topics; excess specialization particularly towards the high school years.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
CCR, "Down on the Corner"
