The Impact of Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s Innovation Ideas on the Issues of Higher Education in China

Abstract：Under the theoretical guidance of Chen，Du，and Lu’s （2015） innovation theory，his paper found that the quality of higher education in China has been deteriorating due to the lack of moral input and outdated teaching methods.Through the research method of thematic analysis，we have found such four major themes as keeping passion，imagination and innovation； China’s education lacking cultural，creative，imaginative and physical education； the importance of good teachers； young people playing the key role in the future about innovation and education from Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s ten speeches，which can function as the solutions to the above problem.

Keywords：issue；causes；and solutions of higher education in China；Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s ideas concerning innovation

1 Introduction

Do you know what Celebrity Effect is？ It refers to the effect of the emergence of celebrities to achieve the attention，of strengthening things，of expanding impacts （Liu，2014）.While Steve Jobs and Jack Ma are the famous people，their speeches are valuable to be read and analyzed.

Under the theoretical guidance of Chen，Du，and Lu’s （2015） innovation theory，this paper summarizes the main issue of China’s higher education which is the lack of moral input and outdated teaching methods.Via thematic analysis，we get the main ideas of Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s speeches about education and innovation.The four topic themes can be used to solute this issue.

2 Literature Review

The literature review of the present paper covers the following three aspects： the definition of innovation，major issues of University Education in China，Steve Jobs and Jack Ma’s speech on education and innovation.

2.1 Defining Innovation

What is innovation？ The origins of the systematic concept of innovation can be traced back to the American economist Schumpeter in 1912，who proposed innovation is the introduction of a new production factor and production conditions of the new combination into the production system.By the 1960s，with the rapid development of the technological revolution，American economist Rostow （1991） puts forward the concept of “innovation” to “technological innovation”.In the 21st century，technological innovation and scientific innovation arrive at a higher level.

With the improvement of innovation theory，the meaning of innovation is more and more abundant.Innovation Theory and Practice written by Chen，Du and Lu （2015） with the perspective on the development of innovation theory and summarization of the research achievements of scholars on innovation theory proposed that innovation is to create new things，and is a constant pursuit of the concept and process with the quality of excellence，progress and development.This paper mainly focuses on the main content of innovation including theoretical and cultural innovations.Educational innovation is closely related to cultural innovation （Dorothy Faulkner，2016）.But the essence of innovation is knowledge innovation （Ikujiro Nonaka，2007）.So the importance of educational innovation is self-evident.

2.2 Steve Jobs and Jack Ma on education and Innovation

But these researches mainly focus on innovation in economy and technology but less in education.Based on the study and analyze of Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s ten speeches，this paper sums up their core points on education and innovation.

For Steve Jobs，first，following one’s interests，curiosity，and intuition is priceless，in other words，one should think differently and is willing to imagine and innovate； second，keep passion to what we want and catch chance to pursuit it bravely； third，in educational field，computer，the best instrument after the existence of the book，and educational software will change our life； fourth，young men dominate the future，especially the field of computer，because the older you are，the more rigid your mind is.

For Jack Ma，first，the main problem of current education in China is that teaching has been done a good job，but education，which means cultural，creative，imaginative and physical education，has been done not well； second，knowledge is learned though “playing”，mainly through music，arts，sports，etc，but not learning； third，young men，actually，are the future of a country，and they should change themselves bravely； fourth，imagination is the largest impetus of the future society，so we should keep curiosity，motivate imagination and innovation.

In terms of the main views both of them，this paper summarizes their three common opinions about education and innovation.First，one’s interests，curiosity，intuition，and passions contribute to their innovative ability.Second，young men，actually，are the future of a country.Third，thinking differently and trying to change themselves are valuable in their whole life.

2.3 Major Issues of University Education in China

As we all know，higher education plays an important role in individuals and society.But there are still many issues in our higher education.Here are three mainly problems provided by some researchers.

First，our higher education pays attention to intellectual education，but neglects moral education，which causes the quality of college students decreasing gradually （Pan，2002）.At the meantime，Jack Ma thinks that in China，teaching has been done a good job，but education，which means cultural，creative，imaginative and physical education is not well.Second，outdated teaching methods inhibit the development of students’ innovative ability （Chen & Liu，2014）.Just like Jack Ma said that China’s teachers mostly dose not receive formal training.Their teaching methods aren’t fit today’s higher education （Liu，2014）.

Through investigations of issues above，this paper will be directed at innovation.Just like the famous “the Qian’s doubt”： why is it that our school always has no outstanding talent （Fu，2009）？ Therefore，based on above- mentioned analyses，the following conclusion can be drawn： innovation of education is imperative.

In the above，this paper talks about innovation in education through a road less traveled，which finds relatively themes from speeches of two famous people both in home and aboard，Jack Ma and Steve Jobs.

RQ 1：What’s the essential issue of China’s education？

RQ 2：Why does it cause this problem？

RQ 3：How to solve this problem？

3 Research Methods

The present study has adopted the research methods of website observation and purposive selection for data collection and thematic analyses for data analysis.Specifically，I take the following steps.

3.1 Data Collection

For data collection，I thoroughly employed information about Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s speech on website and some speech books.Finally，I adopted ten speeches of both of them as the base of the whole paper.Jack Ma’s speeches are selected in nearly five years，which are all about economic development，major issues of China’s education，the importance of innovation.Steve Jobs’ speeches are all his most famous speeches in his whole life，which mainly talks about the founding and developing process of Apple Inc.，anything what we love we should keep passion，the importance of one’s interests，intuitions，and creation.

3.2 Data Analysis

In this paper，all the raw data were analyzed by thematic analysis，which refers to a method for identifying，analyzing and reporting patterns with data （Braun V.，& Clarke V，2008）.During the process of analyzing the data，first，I found ten major themes about innovation and education of their speeches，and then made some theme frequency statistics and picked out the top four themes.Finally，by referring back to the literature review，and though the analysis of Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s own and their common ideas，we build a vivid argument for the themes.

4 Findings and Discussions

The essential issue of China’s education is the lake of innovation.Just like what Jack Ma says，for the next 30 years，children will not find jobs if they are educated by the present educational methods，and learn same contents.At the meantime，Steve Jobs thinks that keep a beginner’s mentality all the time，which means keeping passions，curiosity，and imagination.Throughout years of our education process，why our college students are good at test，but are with less ability to do some scientific program （Hong，2000）.In Jack Ma and Steve Jobs’ opinion，the essential factor is lacing innovation.

But why does it cause the lack of innovation？ In the 2017 World Internet of in Wuxi Summit，Jack Ma said most people firstly see something and then believe； only a few people firstly believe and then see.That is to say，most people don’t dare to think，to imagine.So the first cause of this situation is Chinese students largely influenced by China’s thousands of-year history and culture （Zhang & Fei，2007），such as long-term accumulation of conservative thought，the negative effect of farming culture，and the repression of the Imperial examination system （Pan，2000）.Secondly，Jack Ma thinks that Chinese teachers are without formal training.He said an excellent headmaster can affect at least 100 teachers，and a good teacher can affect at least 500 students.Similarly，Steve Jobs thinks a good teacher can inspire students’ enthusiasm for study.Thirdly，China’s education make light of cultural，musical，physical education.Jack Ma thinks that this kind of education is the source of education.

Facing these problems，what should we do？ To begin with，teachers influence students directly or indirectly （Feng & Li，2016）.So according to Jack Ma，China’s headmasters and teachers should receive formal training，no matter in what aspects，such as skills or personal characters.Next，pay more attention on physical，musical，and cultural education.Jack Ma says that most people success by playing，but not learning.This “playing” means acquire imagination and creativity from activities.Then，combine traditional culture with modern science and technology.Cultural inheritance is an important function of higher education （Chen，2006）.Finally，for individuals，we should consistently keep passion to what we interest，keep believe，and keep working.

5 Conclusion

By analyzing Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s ten speeches，under the theoretical guidance of Chen，Du，and Lu’s （2015） innovation theory and via website observation，purposive selection for data collection and thematic analyses for data，this study has achieved the following findings：

Firstly，we find the main issue of China’s higher education is lack of innovation.Secondly，we analyze the causes of that issue based on Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s speeches.At last，we propose some solutions according to the speeches.These findings may be beneficial for our higher education on the innovative road.

The limitations of this study are that，first，we could not identify that the essential issue of China’s higher education is or not innovation，because this paper is based on Steve Jobs’ and Jack Ma’s speeches to analyze this issue.Second，this paper employs the research method of the thematic analyses without actual investigation and data analysis.

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作者簡介

王盼（1993—），女，河南省許昌人，揚州大學2017級學科教學（英語）專業碩士研究生，研究方向：英語學科教學。