There is much that can be said about Steven Jobs. I would like to simply say that he was a man of great ideas and the skills to make them happen.
During the creation of the original Macintosh, he told the designers that he wanted a computer that was as easy to operate as a telephone. It seems proper that last night I learned about the passing of Steve Jobs from a telephone that he turned into a computer.
I was especially moved by President Obama’s statement. He said that,
Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.
I hate to be so crude as to inject politics into this time of mourning, but if the President truly values the qualities he attributed to Steve Jobs, then he will do what he can, fire who he needs to, hire who he needs, to turn our classrooms into places where teachers are less often prompted to say,
“That’s the right answer!”
and more often hear themselves saying,
“That’s a great idea!”
You make a great point. Steve Jobs was incredible not because he regurgitated the right answer more than 90% of the time, but because he invented a new answer.
Obama’s statement for Steve Jobs is really moving. What is sad about the great innovator’s demise is that he carried with him perhaps thousand more ideas that we won’t be able to see in flesh anymore.
Hi, my name is Courtney Williams and I’m a EDM 310 student at the University of South Alabama. Steve Jobs is as important to my generation as Henry Ford was to his generation. He was simply a genius, and inspired everybody.
Steve Jobs truly was an innovator, and I agree that it would be great to see our classrooms transform and inspire similar people. However, though Obama might want to improve our system, he’d probably be vehemently stonewalled by the GOP like he has been throughout his presidency, resulting in no change taking place. Furthermore, something else involving Apple might draw his more immediate attention; its stocks. With Steve Jobs dead, it is speculated that Apple’s stocks will soon fall quickly, and the company will no doubt be weaker without Steve’s vision driving it. Considering the sorry state of our economy at the moment, this could serve to worsen that issue and possibly even make our schools weaker if the government decides to slash education again. Regardless of what was said about Jobs, I feel that what’s done in response to his death won’t be helping those who wish to become like him.
Mr. Warlick – I really enjoy reading your articles and the insight you have on everything. I believe that it is great of you to honor Steve Jobs for what he has done. However, what hit me hard was how you explained the quote from the president. Mr. Jobs was not a man out to make money and get rich. He was a man that was a visionary and appreciated the idea of a better, smarter Earth. He recreated the idea of technology and how you can applicate it to the world. When you explain that Mr. Jobs wanted to make a computer that could be used as a phone, I appreciated how you threw in that you found out about his death with your I-phone. When I walk though my school I see his technology everywhere from the I-phone to the I-pod, he really did affect life as it is. By using his company Apple Mr. Jobs proved that a single man can change the world with a single idea. When you look into past the men that changed the world, are men that thought differently. They were men that believed with their idea they could do something. I believe this puts into perspective that nothing is impossible and that maybe even the next Steve Jobs or Henry Ford could be in my generation. When my friends at school talked about his death it seemed that we all had some sort of gratitude towards his passing. Like Will Richardson’s Post “Just Yesterday I was struggling with a PC during a…” he explains how he was having trouble in front of an audience when he said “Look I’m a Mac guy.” Then the audience started clapping and cheering. I believe that Steve Job’s Death is not something to mourn but something to remember. Everyone dies whether famous or not; you remember them for what they did, not what they didn’t do. However in the years coming I believe the world will see a big change in Apple. Just like many Presidents it is hard to be appreciated as a new leader after the loss of one that was loved by all. Steve Jobs changed the world with Apple I just hope where his company goes now can be for better than worse.
Mr. Warlick, your post “Steve Jobs-A Great Idea” was interesting to read but was about a very depressing topic. This didn’t matter to me as much as many other people because I never had a iPhone or an iPad. The only object I’ve ever owned that was made by apple was an iPod and it’s part of my life. This mattered to education because a boy in my class has a iPad instead of using a laptop and has had a lot of success with it which shows that Apple has a place in the classroom. This mattered to the world because so many people everywhere use apple and its become a everyday household object. All in all, I am also very sad about Steve Jobs death and it seems like you are as well.
I think that one of the beautiful, glorious things about Steve Jobs was his ability to imagine a given reality, and then push a team of dedicated and talented people to achieve that particular reality.
If modern schools have one critical failing, it is that we select our administrators on the basis of the ability to hold to the previous generation’s vision of what school should be, rather than what it needs to become.
What does it need to become? I think that’s a great question — but I know that the answer in urban Phoenix is probably different than suburban Connecticut and that both are different than the answer in rural Montana.
Steve Jobs is like James Watt in 21 Century.