Steve Wozniak, the guy who engineered the first ever computer of Apple- Apple 1 gave his opinions on the education system and startup scenario across India in a recent interview. Wozniak is popularly known as Woz and still answers the questions about Steve Jobs and the starting of Apple in a very polite way.
Woz never leaves a chance to praise about Steve and his creativity. He completely verifies the fact that Apple achieved success because Steve knew what consumers want and others worked according to his plans. On asking about what he thinks about leaving Apple, Woz said that he has never felt regretful about his decisions. He added: “I am the only person who has had a paycheck every week since the first day we started the company. I have a small token salary even now.”
According to Woz, the culture in India is based on getting academic degrees, cramming in studies, working hard and getting good jobs. Plus, there are 2 types of India- upper India and lower India. He thinks Indians are lacking creativity in their education system and this needs to change very quickly as India has a large section of the population that is young. The behaviour of Indians is too predictable and common, no one is trying to think differently and this can be the major reason for unemployment in the country.
He believes that coding is still very important in building new technologies but should not be taught before the age of 12 as a human mind has a good reasoning power after 12. He feels programming can only be taught after the student knows about algebra and its rules.
He praised New Zealand government and its citizens and said: “Look at a small country like New Zealand, the writers, singers, athletes, it’s a whole different world.”
