The Mythbusters: Why Should Teacher Tenure?

Great Essays
Register to read the introduction… Back then, racial or personal bias could get a perfectly good teacher fired. Female teachers even faced being fired for becoming pregnant or for wearing pants to work. Tenure also serves to protect professors whose research or teaching practices might ruffle feathers, and to ensure job security for out of the box academic pursuits. Typically, tenure is granted to university professors only after an intensive and protracted process of review. Professors usually do not come under review for tenure until they have spent at least five years working in their position. Primary and secondary school teachers can earn tenure in as little as two years on the job. Should teacher tenure be abolished?
Wisniewski 2
In 2000, 36 year old Leslie Jermyn went to teach her first course as a seasonal lecturer at the University of Toronto for $4,550, she taught 100 students a two month first year anthropology course. Though Jermyn would go on to teach courses every summer for the next 11 years,
…show more content…
NYSUT United 8 Feb. 2011: n.pg. Web. accessed July 25,2012
Findlay, Stephanie. "Whatever Happened to Tenure? The Backbone of Today's University is Ill-Paid,
Overworked Lecturer." Maclean's 124.2 24 Jan. 2011: n.pg. General OneFile. Web. 24 July 2012
Mathis, Meghan. "Teacher Tenure Debate: Pros & Cons." The K-12 Teachers Alliance 4 May 2012: n.pg.
Web. accessed July 25, 2012
Nelson, Cary. "Parents: Your Children Need Professors With Tenure." The Chronicle of Higher Education 57.07 3 Oct. 2010: n.pg. Academic OneFile. Web. 25 July 2012
Stephey, M.J. "Tenure." Time 17 Nov. 2008: n.pg. Academic OneFile. Web. 24 July 2012.
Stripling, Jack. "Most Presidents Favor No Tenure for Majority of Faculty; Evan Many Leaders of
Private and Public Colleges Want More Long Term Contracts for Professors." The Chornicle

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Teachers are among the most important people in society today. Teachers help shape the minds of the future. Tomorrow 's engineers, scientists, politicians, and educators are all greatly influenced by today 's instructors. Without teachers society would not be anywhere near where it is now and only a select few would have access to learning. Sadly, however important teachers are in civilization, they are still drastically underappreciated, underrecognized and underpaid.…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By ending tenure the current education system would lose nothing but has everything to gain from it. Once a professor reaches tenure there is no incentive to perform well or for him or her to improve there teaching skills. If the author could change one thing this would be first on the list. They also believe everybody should go to college and should be our countries goal. But for this to happen the authors believe professors should be engaged with their students, this is another area the authors feels needs to improve.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Unlike nearly all the occupations, American teachers’ salary has nothing to do with their performance in the classroom. The Teachers Union also refused to change this policy, therefore causing a negative chain of reactions. Even more debuts accumulate throughout this long debate, as the school’s reputation fall rapidly throughout recent years. Some of the most talented students might choose a private academy and the top teachers can easily pick another prosperous profession. The best teachers lost their confidence in this profession when they can hardly get any promotion and other professions are prospering.…

    • 1437 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The world of education as we know it is a place built on a foundation that is surrounded by enigmas and empty promises. It is for this reason that America has yet to find an effective solution that works for schools nationwide that is “progressive” as well as “consistent” in the field of education. The articles and the book that we have read so far in class have left me a bittersweet taste in my mouth. I think about how far we have come and how many steps we continue taking backwards. The issues surrounding education seem to share the same common factors of race, high expectations, and hidden agendas.…

    • 1060 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Teachers with too many students typically conduct lessons in overcrowded classrooms; moreover, they are unable to focus on the daily challenges that students face. The Education of Michele Rhee explored the difficulties of firing unqualified teachers. Rhee is currently working on getting rid of teacher tenure in order to cultivate a student first educational environment.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dave Eggers and Ninive Clements Calegari. “The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Apr. 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01eggers.html. Dave Eggers and Ninive Calegari are writers for the New York Times. They wrote an article not long ago regarding “The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries.”…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The failure of public schooling in America is an ongoing controversy among teachers, parents, and administrators across the nation. David Guggenheim exemplifies the concern of America’s failing education system in his eye-opening documentary, Waiting For Superman. The film covers topics such as socioeconomic background, school funding, charter schools, and teacher tenure, all of which are contributing factors to the plummeting education system. Focusing in on teacher performance, teacher tenure is an agreement under union contract that secures a teacher’s job for life after meeting specific expectations for an allotted amount of time. The documentary details how quickly teachers can qualify for tenure, the inability to reprimand low performing teachers under tenure policy, and how negligent teachers protected by tenure can negatively affect an educational institution.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    However, others consider that the reasons for the shift from T/TT to NTT faculty include declines in federal and state education spending, while others claim it being the result of a decision to choose the development of technology and facilities over the quality of instruction (Reevy & Deason, 2014). For this reason, studies suggest that the rising numbers of non-tenure-track faculty in higher education contributes to negative student outcomes because of poor working conditions and lack of support that NTTFs receive from their institution (Kezar, Maxey & Badke, 2013). In fact, research suggests that another contributing factor is that NTT faculty are inaccessible to students due to time constraints, and a lack of office space (Kezar, Maxey & Badke, 2013). Furthermore, many institutions do not provide professional development for non-tenure-track faculty, which affects their performance and ability to stay current on knowledge in their disciplines, as well as emerging and innovative pedagogies and classroom strategies (Kezar, Maxey & Badke, 2013). In a progression of articles and reports, the AAUP raised suspicions that NTT workforce needs institutional support and acknowledgment and that NTT development adversely impacts scholarly flexibility, quality principles, and value in pay (Boston University, 2010).…

    • 2685 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Brilliant Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reasons To Abolish Tenure

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages

    At the very least changing the system by making it more selective about who earns tenure. Although I do not think it needs to be completely eliminated, I do think Wetherbe does make a good argument suggesting tenure should be replaced with contracts, but only if they do not entirely strip professors of job protections. Even long term contracts, as Wetherbe suggests, would free up resources that can be used to staff according to the university’s needs. If “multiyear” contracts are an incentive, students have a greater chance of getting professors with greater accountability to their students. On the other hand, professors also need some sort of protection from torch bearers that don’t see eye to eye with the fellow educators.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Dana Goldstein, author of The Teacher Wars, “50 percent of all beginner teachers choose to leave the profession in the first five years” (7). This is either due to the low pay that…

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tenure works to give teachers more freedom by “strengthening legal protections embodied in civil service, civil rights, and labor laws by shifting to the employer the burden to prove the termination is justified” (Kahlenberg, 2015). Tenure allows teachers to feel safer and more comfortable with their jobs, knowing that they cannot be fired for unjustified and illegitimate reasons. Tenure also gives “teachers’ freedom to experiment or support controversial causes,” which is very much needed, because if teachers do not feel as if they can try new things, there is no way for them to improve as teachers (Chen, 2009). If new teachers can go to a school knowing they have time to learn their teaching style and cannot be punished if what they do is controversial, teaching will be more appealing to them. In many cases teaching is improved by letting the teacher do their job their own way.…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Teacher education is constantly in the spotlight as educators and policy makers determine what characterizes a highly qualified teacher. According to Marszalek, LaNasa, & Adler (2010) highly teachers are those that have completed a teacher certification program, earned a bachelor’s degree, obtaining full state certification, and being placed in a position that matches his or her area of certification or licensure. Highly qualified teachers have not had certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis. The definition of highly qualified teacher was revised to address the teacher shortage issue.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Free Speech On Campus

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages

    She wrote that if adjunct professors say anything controversial or “incendiary” they could lose their jobs, as it has happened many times before. This includes voicing their opinion anywhere on social media or in public. Bancalari then listed a number of adjunct professors that have recently been fired for voicing their opinions.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Low Pay Of Teachers

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Nationwide teacher shortages are occurring due to low pay, and districts are fighting to recruit teachers. Teachers aren 't receiving a high enough salary and deserve to be paid more, especially considering the amount of work the job requires. Educators leave the profession because they aren’t making enough money or feeling valued. This impacts not only the shortage of teachers, but also the quality of education students are receiving. The profession of teaching is essential because it is educating our future leaders and teachers salaries should reflect this valuable role in society.…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My mother always said I became a teacher because I loved to talk, but more than that I loved to share. As always, my mother was right. She believed in me, as well as many of the Tyler ISD teachers who taught me and for this I will always be grateful! It is my desire to believe in my students and encourage them to be the best they can be each day!…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics