The Trouble With Tenure

To the Editor:

Tenure in office has been a time-honored tradition in the teaching profession. It dates back to an age when this profession was underpaid as so many public employees were, who were willing to trade the prospect of a higher pay in private industry for the certainty of a smaller paycheck no matter what the state of the economy.

But times have changed and we and everybody, including the teaching profession, must accept the fact that this brave new world has also new demands and one of these is an excellence of teaching if we are to maintain our standing as leader of a free world.

Nothing that I can think of is more detrimental to excellence in education than tenure in office. Under its system, to be sure, there are excellent teachers and I have known them, but also its cloak of protection hides a mediocrity which cannot presently be removed and is a millstone around the neck of the young. It is difficult enough with all the various discrimination prospects to remove anyone for fear of a costly lawsuit and, if successful, enormous costly settlement. This problem alone has led the larger companies to postpone the firing of undesirable employees until a general lay-off for lack of work.

Imagine an employee in a business, who has just been fired for constant tardiness and nonperformance telling his boss that he cannot be fired since he has been in his job for over five years and thus has tenure and will sue.

A modern world demands excellence in education, not mediocrity, and is anathema to tenure. There is no incentive to excel as long as the pay increase is automatic, the job is guaranteed, and no consequence associated with lack of performance. Those of us who have children or grandchildren in a public school cannot idly stand by while other nations surpass us in education. We must demand a change for the better and yes, change does not come without a price. We must insist that pay and benefits for professionals are based on performance and not on the political clout of an organization. To paraphrase HG Wells with respect to education: “Which shall it be, the shining light of our society or the dust bin of history? Choose!”

We and our teachers and, yes, our politicians must make this choice for it will determine how we as a nation and our posterity here will live, think, and prosper.

Oscar Berendsohn

34 Appleblossom Lane,                                                 March 10, 2011