Sell Your Tenure And You Sell Your Soul
As public education is increasingly pushed into the arms of private business, market-minded individuals seek to end tenure. They argue tenure protects the incompetent and strips students of their civil rights. The war against tenure is presently being waged in Los Angeles in the Vergara Case.
Some argue if tenure doesn't work for private business, it can't work for public schools. Small businesses cannot afford to absorb losses generated by inferior employees. In general, the entire argument might go: "What's good for General Motors is good for the country." Of course, in defense of Charles E. Wilson, I would like to point out that he actually said something far more sensible and quite distinct from this.
People who frame the debate in these terms fail to understand that public education and private business are two very different birds, despite the best efforts of some to meld them into one. Public education is a public trust. No individual (or party of individuals) holds a monopoly upon the truth, or upon a single superior curriculum, not even Pearson with its Common-Core aligned standardized state tests, despite any product claims they may make to the contrary.
Good teaching demands academic freedom. Teachers need to be able to broach a variety of topics in the classroom. Teachers should encourage debate. Students need to hear both sides of issues and learn how to make their own informed decisions. If there is no student on the other side of a debate, the teacher must be that person who helps students understand how someone might think differently.
Teachers need to be able to stuff their schools' suggestion box, so to speak,NYC Educator: Sell Your Tenure And You Sell Your Soul: