Why Have Tenure?
My wife was sitting at the kitchen table this morning and asked me to explain why tenure was necessary for teachers. She had been talking with a friend who who felt tenure protected incompetent teachers and was unnecessary. After all, what other jobs had tenure?
I took a deep breath and explained to her that teaching is unique. I told her tenure is really about due process. I then proceeded to give some illustrations and explanations.
We work with people’s children, and normally rational adults can become very irrational when a perceived slight to their child comes to light. An adult
