Tenure

My husband who taught in public schools for the best part of his career has always been a strong supporter of the tenure system.  Anyone who is familiar with the over invested way of the modern American parent will know that as a rule parents have no sense of their child's academic failings whether by poor performance or by limited intelligence, and they almost always fault the teacher.  Contrary to the high regard in which the public school teacher was held in the early half of the twentieth century, their role in American society has consistently been devalued since those days as income has become a more popular index of worth, raising the--to my mind--highly morally dubious professions of real estate, investment banking, financial planning, attorneys, and the like to the new pinnacle of perfection.  Everyone has their story of the desiccated old bitch who ruined some year of the subject of something because she mumbled, didn't care, she couldn't hear, and so on.  They are often featured in films.  I was not immune to the disregard in which public school tenure procedures were held when I met my partner (we weren't to be married for twenty years), even though as a college professor I of course held tenure as well.  It has always seemed to me to be obvious for the college professor, given the well known knavery that haunts the corridors of higher academy; feuds, cruelties, knives in the back, these things are the daily fare of the university professor.  School teachers by contrast never seemed to be quite so hostile in their interaction.  And, indeed, when I met my soon to be partner I was startled by the genuine pleasure and pride his colleagues took in teaching youngsters.  Part of it is, I believe, that they are seriously invested in the growth and development of the intellect and soul of young people, whereas college professors are there to dish out the facts and show why they are the facts--take it or leave it.  It's the difference between fine dining and a cafeteria. In any case, as my partner later husband immediately demonstrated to me through his very own job, if someone has real oversight, and he was the department chair, then they have the obligation to observe and review the performance of everyone in the classroom.  I had taught twenty years by that time and had never had a colleague review my teaching, and of course colleges are rife with hilarious legendary professors who are so boring and out of it that students routinely get up and leave the class without the professor noticing.  Nowadays I have been told most students are on facebook or games when they have their lap tops open in lectures.  But my loved one seriously took on inadequate teachers, patiently explained their pedagogical problems, got them to mend their ways, and if over time they could not, went to the union to explain that he intended to move against the failed teacher.  I was amazed, more amazed that in the four or five instances, relative good will obtained through to the dismissal of the offender and that the union gave the procedure its blessing.  But the lesson here is that observation, correction, firmness, a standard, common courtesy and good will must underlie the procedure.  To my mind tenure is there to protect the school teacher from the community, and compassionate, intelligent department heads who have the will to observe, judge, and move for dismissal are there to protect the tenure system from abuse.