Steve Jobs on Education and Conspiracy Theories....

199512:51English

Transcript

Machine transcript in the original language. It may contain errors. Select a timestamp to play that moment.

I'm a very big believer in equal opportunity as opposed to equal outcome.
I don't believe in equal outcome because unfortunately life's not like that and it'd be a pretty boring place if it was.
But I really believe in equal opportunity and equal opportunity to me more than anything means a great education.
Probably, you know, the second, maybe even more important is a great family life, but I don't know how to do that.
I don't think anybody knows how to do that.
But it pains me because we do know how to provide a great education.
We really do.
If we got our act together,
we could make sure that every young child in this country got a great education.
And we fall far short of that.
And I know from my own education that if I hadn't encountered two or three individuals
that spent extra time with me, I'm sure I would have been in jail.
I'm 100% sure if it hadn't have been for Mrs. Hill in fourth grade and a few others,
but maybe even especially her, I absolutely would have ended up in jail.
Because I could see those tendencies in myself to sort of have a certain energy to do something.
And it could have been directed at doing something interesting that other people thought was a good idea
or doing something interesting that other people maybe didn't like so much.
And so, you know, I think when you're young, a little bit of course correction goes a long way.
And I think it takes pretty talented people to do that.
And I don't know that enough of them get attracted to go into public education.
You can't even support a family on what you get paid.
And if you're smart, I sort of feel if somebody's smart enough that you want to turn your kids over to them,
for the majority of their childhood.
I mean, the majority of their waking hours in their childhood
are spent not with your parents, but with your teachers.
I'd like the people that are teaching my kids
to be good enough that they could get a job
at the company I work for making $100,000 a year.
Well, why should they work at a school for $35,000, $40,000 a year
if they could get a job here at $100,000 a year?
I mean, is that an intelligence test?
I think we should basically be hiring them and paying them $100,000 a year,
but the problem there, of course, is the unions.
The unions are the worst thing that ever happened to education
because it's not a meritocracy.
It turns into a bureaucracy, which is exactly what's happened,
and teachers can't teach, and administrators run the place,
and nobody can be fired.
It's terrible.
Well, some people say that this new technology may be a, the network in the world, if you will, may be a way to bypass that.
No, I absolutely don't believe that.
And as you pointed out, I've probably helped put more computers in more schools than anybody else in the world up until this point in time.
And I'm absolutely convinced that that is by no means the most important thing.
Now the most important thing is another person.
Another person that incites your curiosity, that guides your curiosity, that feeds your curiosity.
And machines cannot do that in the same way people can.
The elements of discovery are around you.
You don't need a computer to know.
I mean, you know, here.
Why does that fall?
You know why?
Nobody knows why.
Nobody in the entire world knows why that falls.
We can describe it pretty accurately, but no one knows why.
I don't need a computer to get a kid interested in that,
to spend a week playing with gravity and trying to understand it
and come up with reasons why.
But you do need a person.
You do need a person.
And so, especially with computers the way they are now,
the way they are now, computers are very reactive,
but they're not, they are not proactive.
They are not agents, if you will.
They are very reactive.
So what children need is something much more proactive.
And they need a guide.
They don't need an assistant.
And I think we have the material to solve this problem in the world.
It's just being deployed in other places.
and I've been a very strong believer
that what we need to do in education
is go to the full voucher system.
I know this isn't what you care about,
but this is what I care about a great deal.
Well, this is exactly what we care about.
Okay, great.
Believe it or not, this was at the end.
One of the things that I feel is that...
Right now, if you ask who are the customers of education,
the customers of education are the society at large,
employers that hire people, things like that.
But ultimately, I think the customers are the parents,
not even the students, but the parents.
The problem that we have in this country
is that the customers went away.
The customers stopped paying attention
to their schools for the most part.
And gave attention to the...
Well, what happened was that mothers started working,
and they didn't have time to spend at PTA meetings and watching their kids' school.
Schools became much more institutionalized,
and parents spent less and less and less time involved in their kids' education.
And what happens when a customer goes away and a monopoly gets control,
which is what's happened in our country,
is that the service level almost always goes down.
I remember seeing a bumper sticker
when the telephone company was all one,
AT&T, the Bell system.
I remember seeing a bumper sticker
with the Bell logo on it,
and it said,
we don't care, we don't have to.
And that's what a monopoly is.
That's what IBM was in their day,
and that's certainly what the public school system is.
They don't have to care.
Now, it turns out,
let's go through some economics.
The most expensive thing most people buy in their lives is a house.
The second most expensive thing is a car, usually.
And a car costs, average car is approximately about $20,000 now, $16,000, $20,000.
And an average car lasts about, what, eight years?
Right, you buy another one.
So approximately, you know, $2,000 a year, right, for an eight-year commitment.
Well, your child goes to school, right?
Approximately eight years in K-8, right?
You don't like to switch schools.
It's about an eight-year commitment.
What does the state of California spend per pupil per year?
On a public school?

Transcript

Machine transcript in the original language. It may contain errors. Select a timestamp to play that moment.

I'm a very big believer in equal opportunity as opposed to equal outcome.

I don't believe in equal outcome because unfortunately life's not like that and it'd be a pretty boring place if it was.

But I really believe in equal opportunity and equal opportunity to me more than anything means a great education.

Probably, you know, the second, maybe even more important is a great family life, but I don't know how to do that.

I don't think anybody knows how to do that.

But it pains me because we do know how to provide a great education.

We really do.

If we got our act together,

we could make sure that every young child in this country got a great education.

And we fall far short of that.

And I know from my own education that if I hadn't encountered two or three individuals

that spent extra time with me, I'm sure I would have been in jail.

I'm 100% sure if it hadn't have been for Mrs. Hill in fourth grade and a few others,

but maybe even especially her, I absolutely would have ended up in jail.

Because I could see those tendencies in myself to sort of have a certain energy to do something.

And it could have been directed at doing something interesting that other people thought was a good idea

or doing something interesting that other people maybe didn't like so much.

And so, you know, I think when you're young, a little bit of course correction goes a long way.

And I think it takes pretty talented people to do that.

And I don't know that enough of them get attracted to go into public education.

You can't even support a family on what you get paid.

And if you're smart, I sort of feel if somebody's smart enough that you want to turn your kids over to them,

for the majority of their childhood.

I mean, the majority of their waking hours in their childhood

are spent not with your parents, but with your teachers.

I'd like the people that are teaching my kids

to be good enough that they could get a job

at the company I work for making $100,000 a year.

Well, why should they work at a school for $35,000, $40,000 a year

if they could get a job here at $100,000 a year?

I mean, is that an intelligence test?

I think we should basically be hiring them and paying them $100,000 a year,

but the problem there, of course, is the unions.

The unions are the worst thing that ever happened to education

because it's not a meritocracy.

It turns into a bureaucracy, which is exactly what's happened,

and teachers can't teach, and administrators run the place,

and nobody can be fired.

It's terrible.

Well, some people say that this new technology may be a, the network in the world, if you will, may be a way to bypass that.

No, I absolutely don't believe that.

And as you pointed out, I've probably helped put more computers in more schools than anybody else in the world up until this point in time.

And I'm absolutely convinced that that is by no means the most important thing.

Now the most important thing is another person.

Another person that incites your curiosity, that guides your curiosity, that feeds your curiosity.

And machines cannot do that in the same way people can.

The elements of discovery are around you.

You don't need a computer to know.

I mean, you know, here.

Why does that fall?

You know why?

Nobody knows why.

Nobody in the entire world knows why that falls.

We can describe it pretty accurately, but no one knows why.

I don't need a computer to get a kid interested in that,

to spend a week playing with gravity and trying to understand it

and come up with reasons why.

But you do need a person.

You do need a person.

And so, especially with computers the way they are now,

the way they are now, computers are very reactive,

but they're not, they are not proactive.

They are not agents, if you will.

They are very reactive.

So what children need is something much more proactive.

And they need a guide.

They don't need an assistant.

And I think we have the material to solve this problem in the world.

It's just being deployed in other places.

and I've been a very strong believer

that what we need to do in education

is go to the full voucher system.

I know this isn't what you care about,

but this is what I care about a great deal.

Well, this is exactly what we care about.

Okay, great.

Believe it or not, this was at the end.

One of the things that I feel is that...

Right now, if you ask who are the customers of education,

the customers of education are the society at large,

employers that hire people, things like that.

But ultimately, I think the customers are the parents,

not even the students, but the parents.

The problem that we have in this country

is that the customers went away.

The customers stopped paying attention

to their schools for the most part.

And gave attention to the...

Well, what happened was that mothers started working,

and they didn't have time to spend at PTA meetings and watching their kids' school.

Schools became much more institutionalized,

and parents spent less and less and less time involved in their kids' education.

And what happens when a customer goes away and a monopoly gets control,

which is what's happened in our country,

is that the service level almost always goes down.

I remember seeing a bumper sticker

when the telephone company was all one,

AT&T, the Bell system.

I remember seeing a bumper sticker

with the Bell logo on it,

and it said,

we don't care, we don't have to.

And that's what a monopoly is.

That's what IBM was in their day,

and that's certainly what the public school system is.

They don't have to care.

Now, it turns out,

let's go through some economics.

The most expensive thing most people buy in their lives is a house.

The second most expensive thing is a car, usually.

And a car costs, average car is approximately about $20,000 now, $16,000, $20,000.

And an average car lasts about, what, eight years?

Right, you buy another one.

So approximately, you know, $2,000 a year, right, for an eight-year commitment.

Well, your child goes to school, right?

Approximately eight years in K-8, right?

You don't like to switch schools.

It's about an eight-year commitment.

What does the state of California spend per pupil per year?

On a public school?