Apple co-founder Steve Jobs loudly supports the use of new technology in advancing the learning process in the classrooms and for the advancement of education in general. Jobs has made several highly publicized charitable efforts in his pursuit for quality education, such as the $1 billion worth of Apple hardware and software at the Ross High School in East Hampton.

With the advent of advanced communication and information technology, Jobs holds a vision where classrooms no longer need textbooks as learning resources. With such move, the funds used for text books and delivery services can be used to purchase computers and faster Internet access. Online resources like Wikipedia, according to Jobs, should replace textbooks as they provide latest information and can be constantly updated by experts.

Another thing that Steve Jobs is very passionate about is the way the educational system in the United States is managed. He is very vocal in his belief that principals should run their schools as if it was a company and act as if they are the companies’ CEOs. Jobs is also a staunch supporter for educational reform, and is particularly vocal about the issue of teachers’ unions.

Unions have gained control in several districts with regards to how to run the education system. They have hindered a lot of schools from attracting good educators and from ridding of the less effective ones. Even some of the teachers who are union members do not share the same agenda their organizations claim to represent on their behalf.

The core problem, according to Jobs, resides within the bureaucracy of education administration. Quite a number of teachers who are members of labor unions, according to Jobs, should be fired because of incompetence and underperformance. However, teachers unions have granted lifetime employment to public teachers in K-12, making Jobs’ proposal difficult.

Of course, educational reforms of this magnitude require money and public awareness. Introducing the concept of textbook-free classrooms and dismantling teacher unions may take time as well. However, Jobs has his arguments patched with persuasive evidence that one cannot deny the plausibility of such proposals.