Teacher Tenure Essay

Tenure in school systems has been a highly controversial topic lately. Tenure refers to the job security of teachers after they have worked at a certain school for three years. When teachers earn tenure, it is very difficult to take away their jobs. This is especially true in higher education. According to the Washington Post, 32 states grant tenure after three years, nine states grant tenure after four or five years and four states never grant tenure at all. Granting tenure to all teachers gives everybody a job for life which should not be the case. Under-performing teachers should not have definite job security. America should remove academic tenure, replace it with a different system, and re-evaluate school teachers and professors.

Removing a teacher from his or her position is very difficult to do. “Tenure benefits the state by helping to create a permanent and qualified teaching force” (Underwood, Webb 36). This makes it difficult to let a teacher go even when it is to make the school a better environment for the students. Although teachers do have the right to freedom of speech and are able to exercise their First Amendment right, that freedom is in a way limited by the school board. Pickering v. Board of Education (1968) is a great example of this. A high school science teacher was terminated by the board of education because a letter he wrote was published in one of the community’s newspapers. The letter discussed the unequal funding between academics and athletics. After

Webster's dictionary defines tenure as, “the act, right, manner, or term, of holding something (such as a landed property, a position, or an office); especially :a status granted after a trial period to a teacher that gives protection from summary dismissal. In other words, educators receive due process protection from accusations or charges against them.Years ago, educators who acted in destructive and abusive demeanor sidestep meaningful ramifications due to tenure safeguards .However, the supreme protection granted to tenured teachers diminished greatly as of July 2011. Michigan stripped the unassailable security of tenure and the world of education in Michigan altered permanently.Forlornly, educator Kathleen Goulouze failed to adhere to modifications of the updated teacher tenure decree.

Rights protected in the 1st and 14th amendment back up the tenure systems. The first amendment states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Following, the 14th amendment states No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Long story short, the 1st amendment protection for teachers who speak out on matters of

A federal law put in place to abolish tenure will revolutionize the public school system. It is a simple yet realistic advancement to push forth positive effects on many measures, from America's status as a country down to one school’s status. Not only will it affect education, but this legislation could potentially strike up other forms of employment that use permanent contracts. For instance the “U.S. Government Accountability Office [presented a] startling statistic: 40.4% of the U.S. workforce is now made up of contingent workers.” In other words, almost half of the nation's employed have not been guaranteed a permanent job and this has been a rising trend since the recession. It is obvious there are negative effects to this large percentage

Teachers are very vital for school. Without the teachers there would not be a school. However, what happens when a teacher is teaching poorly and the school wants to fire him/her? What would be the process? Actually, according to ProCon.org, "It costs an average of $250,000 to fire a teacher in New York City." So schools are literally spending millions on firing bad teachers that are protected by tenure. Thus, lowering the budget of the school itself. This is the reason why numerous schools lose money each

It can also take up a while for those tenured teachers to get removed from the school due to them not performing as the way they should be. In an article from the teacher tenure, it explains that in New York City it costs an average of $250,000 to fire a teacher in New York City. Also, that it in Michigan it can take up to 335 days to remove a tenured teacher in Michigan before the courts get involved. It shouldn’t cost that much, or take that long to get an underperforming tenure teacher out of their job. Since those tenured teachers know that they have job stability, they do whatever they want and however way they want

“In ten years, only about 47 out of 100,000 teachers were actually terminated from New Jersey’s schools...In New York State, outside of New York City, only about 17 tenured teachers are terminated annually.” (Protecting Bad

Test scores in the United States have flat lined; while funding for schools has increased. Some students and parents have experienced teachers that have abused the power of tenure to keep their job while not teaching the students.

According to the award-winning history teacher, Kerry Sylvia, without tenure, she was concerned about being fired for her public opposition to her school administrators’ initiatives. 5. It encourages careful selection of effective and qualified teachers. Due to the fact that tenured teachers are very difficult to remove, school administrators are encouraged to take more care when making recruitment decisions. In addition, tenure urges administrators to dismiss under-performing teachers before they achieve tenure.

Reimagining tenure reform from a teacher’s perspective is about teachers wanting to see some changes to the tenure system. Many teachers enjoy the protection that the tenure system provides, but believe that there could be some changes to it to make it more effective. The tenure system today is viewed as weak. This weak system is discouraging new college graduates and preventing professional growth. New graduates see how teachers are scrutinized and know there are not a rigorous process to help them become better teachers (Hoffman, 2016). A few things that teachers felt should be changed or evaluated are; states should oversee the requirements and guidelines for the teachers rather than the school districts, set a minimum for years of experience,

The teachers’ tenure system has been a controversial issue in the world of education. Some people say that the tenure system could make the teaching profession more attractive to prospective teachers. Proponents of the current system also say that it provides teachers the security and entitlement to due process if they are faced with issues of abuse and other related circumstances. However, critics of the tenure system say that it provides protection and job security, not only to competent teachers, but to the underperformed teachers as well, and therefore, the critics suggest that the tenure system should be abolished. In addition, critics of the tenure system also say that because underperformed and ineffective teachers are difficult to dismiss

Tenure can slow down the quick removal of a teacher without a fair trial. Many schools will immediately fire a teacher if a complaint is made against them. This quick judgment costs many teachers their jobs and lively hoods, even when an accusation is baseless.

If teachers are worried about poor observations from their principal while trying new lessons, the classroom will become boring as children learn the same lessons year after year. With tenure, teachers can make learning fun while trying out new curriculums to engage today’s youths.

The best teachers bring out their students’ knowledge. A good teacher makes students more interested in their lectures. However, these teachers sometimes get fired because they are hired later than the other teachers who have been working for a longer period of time. This is due to the Tenure System that keeps teachers from being fired when they teach at a school for a certain amount of time. Therefore, should the tenure system in public schools be eliminated? Some argue that tenure protects teachers from unfair dismissal; for instance, when teaching unpopular ideas. Also, it would be unfair to fire teachers in order to save expense, due to the fact that older teachers get paid more because of their experience. Other people agree that the tenure system in public schools should be eliminated to keep teachers working hard to improve their knowledge, teaching skills, and responsiveness. In order to improve the quality of the education, performance should be more important than length of service; therefore, the tenure system in public schools should be eliminated.