Apple founder Steve Jobs was a man of strong opinions. Before he died, Jobs gave President Obama his take on America’s public education system:

“Until the teachers unions [are] broken, there [is] almost no hope for education reform,” Jobs told Obama at a personal meeting in the fall of 2010.

Walter Isaacson, author of the new biography “Steve Jobs,” says Jobs supported Obama during the 2008 campaign. But Jobs’ support waned, apparently in part because of Obama’s relationship with the teachers unions.

Jobs thought the only hope for U.S. schools was dramatic change, including:

• letting principals hire and fire teachers based on merit
• keeping schools open 11 months out of the year, and
• extending school hours as late as 6 p.m.

Since that last meeting, Obama hasn’t followed Jobs’ advice. Obama’s jobs bill includes hundreds of millions of dollars for retaining and hiring teachers. Vice President Joe Biden is promoting the bill at public schools (if only fourth graders could vote …)

Isaacson says Jobs also gave the President a stark warning: “You’re headed for a one-term presidency.”

Steve Jobs was right about a lot of things. We’ll see if his prediction comes true.

Tags: apple, barack obama, president obama, steve jobs, teachers unions, walter isaacson