Jobs, Obama, Unions, Education.

By now, everyone has heard that Steve Jobs told Obama that the unions were killing our educational system. He suggested the principals be given the right to hire and fire teachers based on merit, just like the business world, just like he did at Apple. 

Hiring and firing based on performance works. It shouldn’t be any surprise that he would suggest that to Obama as a way to fix the educational system. 

There simply is no long term incentive for a teacher to perform at the highest level. But more than that, there is no basis for our best and brightest students to want to become great teachers because they know that they may work side by side with a teacher who has poorly performed and still earns the same amount of money. Regardless of how altruistic a person is, it’s difficult, if not impossible for the best and brightest, to want to join a system that does not reward performance and discourage failure. 

The federal and state governments have the power of the checkbook to change this system anytime they have the will to do it. All they have to do is withhold money from schools that hire teachers who are members of the teacher’s union. Give the power to the principal to hire and fire school employees based on performance, and the system would change overnight. The poor teachers would be weeded out of the system. The good teachers would be rewarded and feel proud of their profession. The best and brightest of our students might even become teachers and leaders of our children. 

The new cycle would continue upward toward excellence. The old cycle continues now, but it is directed downward toward mediocrity.