Should Teachers Get Tenure

Should Teachers Get Tenure








Should Teachers Get Tenure?
Jessica Jeffrey
Strayer University
Critical Thinking PHI210
Professor Ronald Gavin
April 26, 2015

Should Teachers Get Tenure?
Teacher tenure is a form of job protection for public school teachers. When a teacher works for one (1) to seven (7) years, he/she is granted tenure. For those who espouse this belief, this means a teacher receives protection from termination based on personal or political reasons. Additionally prevention from being fired because of one’s experience and being replaced by new teachers whose annual income is less is another definition. Those who are against teacher tenure believe it is more difficult and expensive to fire underperforming teachers. As a result, these teachers are retained, even though, their job performance is sub-standard (2014, September 29). It is the position of the writer of this paper that teacher tenure prevents wrongful termination. This practice also protects experienced teachers from being replaced with novice teachers whose salaries do not equal or on par with the seasoned educator. As such, this paper will focus on the Con views of opponents of teacher tenure from a critical thinking belief philosophy. Accordingly, this paper will discuss three (3) premises that oppose the writer’s position. “Teacher tenure creates complacency because teachers know they are unlikely to lose their jobs.” “Tenure makes it difficult to remove under-performing teachers because the process involves months of legal wrangling by the principal, the school board, the union, and the courts.” “Tenure is not needed to recruit teachers” (2014, September 29).
What's Interesting or Helpful About This View?
The first premise, “the complacency issue”, is interesting in that this opens up a dialogue whereby opponents who hold a negative position towards tenure can shift their paradigm. In doing so, they can begin promoting the idea of motivating teachers to seek out opportunities...

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