Steve Jobs’ Insights on Education 30 Years Later, Will We Finally Step Up to the Plate?
Source: Smithsonian
I’ve curated notable excerpts from a 1995 Steve Jobs interview by Daniel Morrow. I’ve even put together a YouTube video with clips of this fascinating discussion (link at the end of this article).
It’s tragic how much of his wisdom goes unapplied, leaving me to ask: Will we finally step up to the plate and innovate a vastly different learning model fit for 2026 and beyond? Let’s dive right in, with the timeless founder’s formative years.
Steve fondly recalls one of his “saints”. His fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Hill, saying:
“What was really remarkable was that before very long I had such a respect for her that I sort of reignited my desire to learn and she was remarkable. She got me kits for making cameras, you know. I ground my own lens and made a camera and it was really quite wonderful. And I think I probably learned more academically that one year than I’ve ever learned in my life.”
Jobs also admitted he and Mrs. Hill struck a deal. In exchange for scoring an 80% or above on an advanced math workbook, he’d get a giant lollipop and five dollars. Eventually, the “bribe” worked and his desire to learn was “reignited”. The key in this arrangement being Steve’s “respect” for Mrs. Hill, which ultimately nurtured the growth of his natural interests.
Steve shares: “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. 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 been for Mrs. Hill in fourth grade and a few others but maybe even especially her, I absolutely would have ended up in jail…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.”
As a former fourth grade public educator of 15 years, I agree that a little bit of course correction can go a long way. Steve goes on to say that educators ought to be compensated over “100K” and says this isn’t the case because “unions are the worst thing to happen to education”. He describes it as another “bureaucracy”, where “teachers can’t teach and administrators run the place”.
Although I don’t agree with Jobs that unions are the worst thing to happen to education, they are undoubtedly another bureaucracy, and from experience I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly. A good union lawyer for example, will save your career, but you have to fight tooth and nail to secure him.
No Simple Solutions with Tech
When the interviewer suggested that maybe technology could help bypass such hurdles, Steve revealed the following insight:
“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 I'm absolutely convinced that is, by no means, the most important thing. No, 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…”
Here, Jobs goes on to encourage the idea of testing voucher systems where parents can decide where to send their child using the amount of money it would cost their child to attend a public school. According to Steve, it would be “rather painful” for public schools in the first few years but despite this, Steve says it would be “far less painful than the kids going through the system as it is right now.” He argues that eventually young college graduates would come together and opt for starting their own school instead of starting a company in Silicon Valley.
Steve also said schools have become too “institutionalized”. It’s hard to argue the contrary, since it’s 2025 and classes are still navigating the hallways to the bathroom in two straight lines. Such an institutionalized system does not care about exploring the parallels between how humans learn with technology and how they learn with other humans. Yet that intersection could be the scaffolding of an entirely new schooling model. AI as the tutor and the human educator as the soul that cares about the healthy growth of the learner.
Jobs had more to unveil about his past naiveté: “I used to think when I was in my 20s that technology was the solution to most of the world's problems and unfortunately it ain't so. I’ll give you an analogy. A lot of times we think, why is television programming so bad? Why are television shows so demeaning, so poor?”
After mentioning some conspiracies Steve describes the reality:
“The truth of the matter is, the shows that are on television, are on television because that's what people want. The majority of the people in this country want to turn on the television and turn off their brain and that's what they get. That's far more depressing than a conspiracy. Conspiracies are much more fun than the truth of the matter, which is that a vast majority of the American public are pretty mindless most of the time.”
So is the reason we have the same educational model as three damn decades ago because that’s what people want? It makes sense given that discourse around innovating new schooling models, even at small scale, is practically non-existent. There isn’t even a single pilot program in the country we can point to and say confidently, “We’re doing our best to experiment with modernizing our learning infrastructure.”
The critique on our public being “mindless” however is quickly addressed by emphasizing the solution: attracting the best people to take on innovation.
Jobs states it bluntly: “It is so much more hopeful to think that technology can solve the problems that are really more human and more organizational and more political in nature and it ain't so. We need to attack these things at the root, which is people and how much freedom we give people. The people, the competition that will attract the best people. I feel very strongly about this and I wish it was as simple as giving every kid a computer but it won't work.”
Requiring the Best Humans
Who exactly are these “best people” that Steve is talking about? How do we identify them? And what precisely is it that they do that sets them apart? Jobs alludes to artistry, elaborating:
“We generally use the word artist to mean visual artists of some sort, but I actually think there’s really very little distinction between the artist of that type and a scientist or engineer of the highest caliber. I’ve never had a distinction in my mind between those two types of people. They’ve just to me, been people that pursue different paths but basically kind of headed to the same goal, which is to express something of what they perceive to be the truth around them. So that others can see it, so that others can benefit by it.
I think the artistry is in having an insight into what one sees around them. Generally, putting things together in ways that no one else has, and finding a way to express that to other people who don’t have that same insight. So that they can get some of the advantage of that insight that makes them feel a certain way or allows them to do a certain thing.”
Perseverance in the Midst of Bold Endeavors
What does this mean for those of us who are building new components of learning infrastructure? Or those who are stepping up as stakeholders in innovating educational arenas? This was his advice to the entrepreneurs looking to do just that:
“It's a lot of work and I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard. You pour so much of your life into this thing. There are such rough moments in time that most people give up. I don't blame them. It's really tough and it consumes your life.
Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you're going to not survive. You're going to give it up. So you got to have an idea and or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you're passionate about. Otherwise, you're not going to have the perseverance to stick through it and I think that's half the battle right there.”
Yet the struggles, the ups and downs of the business world, aren’t the focus. At the end of the day, Steve Jobs concludes by reminding himself of the big picture:
“I think the work speaks for itself… I mean we're all going to be dead soon, that's my point of view. Somebody once told me, they said, ‘live each day as if it will be your last and one day you'll certainly be right’. And I do that. Really, you never know when you're going to go. You are going to go pretty soon. If you're going to leave anything behind, it’s going to be your kids, a few friends, and your work.”
Talkers vs Builders
I challenge anyone who says they care deeply about learning to share their own concrete insights as to how we, the public, ought to build a more effective and modern schooling model.
If you’re a parent tired of complaining to the Board of Education, superficial committees or phony politicians, then prove it! Publish your blueprint and let us judge for ourselves. Or else you’re just as comfortable in your whining as the bureaucrats are in their golden handcuffs.
Steve Jobs called us out on our BS and said to get our act together. It’s been 30 years and if he could see the same stagnation despite the emergence of AI, he’d roll over in his grave!
Which is why I’ve stepped up to the plate with my blueprint, Pedagogical Wabi-Sabi. Here is a sneak peek into the sections covered:
DEFINITION
APPROACH
PHILOSOPHY
CULTURE
PHYSICAL DESIGN
OPERATIONAL ORGANIZATION
ACCOUNTABILITY METHODS
RISKS AND CHALLENGES
STYLE
STAKEHOLDERS
Join me if you have the cojones. Otherwise, step aside.
