Teacher Tenure Argumentative Essay

In the education system, tenure is a policy that allows a teacher to have a permanent contract of employment. If a teacher wants to gain tenure at the K-12 level, they must work with the same school system for a certain amount of years depending on the state. At the university level, tenure is earned by contributing to the field of study a teacher is under. This gives teachers an incentive to get a teaching job and work hard in a teaching position. A common downside of teacher tenure, though, is that it may be abused and effectively create complacency inside the classroom. Even though there are upsides and downsides, it is important to look at the fallacies surrounding such arguments. Exploring the arguments of tenure and the fallacies surrounding them shows that there are possible positives and negatives and it is up to the individual to decide if tenure is effective or not. Before tenure was enacted into the school system, teachers could be fired for reasons like becoming pregnant or if a new principal
This argument fails to be valid due to it falling into the fallacy of appealing to pity. By stating that all teachers are in constant of fear of losing their job creates pity inside the reader because the argument makes it seem like teachers are cowering in the corner from being fired. The evidence that is used to back up this argument states, “Without the anxiety and fear of losing employment, teachers can focus their efforts on providing the best education for students.” (Finkin). The information uses the words “anxiety” and “fear” like the argument does in order to create a sense of pity for the teachers. These words are meant to strike fear into the teachers and also compassion for the teachers’ situation. In the end, a majority of teachers move on and are not stifled by the so called fear they have of being