Teacher Tenure
Logan Anderson,
Dr. Z
Final
12/8/10
Tenure Toss Up Some would argue that education is one of the most important things in an individual’s life. School is where people learn many things, and more than just out of books things like; friendship, sharing, right vs. wrong, and discipline. Most people have been there, the alarm clock going off at 6:30 a.m, its still dark outside, and frost has built up on the window. The last thing you want to do is unravel out of your blanket cocoon. It takes more than your mom telling you to get up, to get you to roll out of bed, and go to school. It takes interest in a subject, and the will to be successful. Nobody will be interested enough in going to school, if they have teachers that are not interested, or qualified to teach them. This has become the problem with the American education system today, when educators are protected by tenure laws, and continue to poorly educate America’s youth. Everyone will end up paying the difference. As long as there is no standard criterion to rate our teachers by, America’s education status will continue to fall. This paper will inform you on what teacher tenure is, how it started, and how it is currently used. How tenure is starting to be a burden on more than just the children in the school system today. Those taxpayers that are being affected, even after a teacher is fired, or retires. The steps are taken towards firing an “unqualified teacher”, and how the process plays out. Tenures future, and how some school districts have addressed the issue. Tenure is a problem that is long over due for change. Tenure has “been called the holy grail of the teaching profession-academic freedom plus job security all rolled nicely into a union contract”(Stephey 1). Tenure evolved from the very “labor struggles during the late 19th century. Just as steel and auto workers fought against unsafe working conditions and unlivable wages, teachers too demanded protection from parents and
Dr. Z
Final
12/8/10
Tenure Toss Up Some would argue that education is one of the most important things in an individual’s life. School is where people learn many things, and more than just out of books things like; friendship, sharing, right vs. wrong, and discipline. Most people have been there, the alarm clock going off at 6:30 a.m, its still dark outside, and frost has built up on the window. The last thing you want to do is unravel out of your blanket cocoon. It takes more than your mom telling you to get up, to get you to roll out of bed, and go to school. It takes interest in a subject, and the will to be successful. Nobody will be interested enough in going to school, if they have teachers that are not interested, or qualified to teach them. This has become the problem with the American education system today, when educators are protected by tenure laws, and continue to poorly educate America’s youth. Everyone will end up paying the difference. As long as there is no standard criterion to rate our teachers by, America’s education status will continue to fall. This paper will inform you on what teacher tenure is, how it started, and how it is currently used. How tenure is starting to be a burden on more than just the children in the school system today. Those taxpayers that are being affected, even after a teacher is fired, or retires. The steps are taken towards firing an “unqualified teacher”, and how the process plays out. Tenures future, and how some school districts have addressed the issue. Tenure is a problem that is long over due for change. Tenure has “been called the holy grail of the teaching profession-academic freedom plus job security all rolled nicely into a union contract”(Stephey 1). Tenure evolved from the very “labor struggles during the late 19th century. Just as steel and auto workers fought against unsafe working conditions and unlivable wages, teachers too demanded protection from parents and
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