One problem that absolutley irritates me in our education system is the concept of tenure. I believe that is absolutley ridiculous that if you stay at one location of employment for so long that you are, "safe," from termination. This simply encourages slacking off for teachers who don't genuinely care about their job. It also promotes the idea of doing wrong in the class room.
For example, for the sake of privacy the school district and teacher name will be kept confidential. A teacher who had achieved tenure would rarely meet with students who requested help. At the begining of class he would assign problems, tell us to read the book, and then proceed to do nothing for the rest of the class. He then proceeded to tell me that I would not amount to anything and would be stuck working at fast food for the rest of my life. I reported this to the school district and because of tenure he could not be touched.
This story promotes both of the problems of which I mentioned. tenure is nice if you have a genuinely nice teacher, but a school should be concerned with having the best most qualified teacher that they can get. If they have a great teacher whos students reflect their intelligence and ability to learn it should be acceptable to keep them, not just because they have been their for a while.
That was pacansky on learning, what do you think?
Great topic. So is your tenure argument attached to unionized teachers. Are unions in education an asset or a detriment to student achievement? According to your assertions, it seems tenure, a product of union negotiations, is a seed of complacency and latency. What do we do? What is the answer? Merit pay? A more aligned evaluation system?
ReplyDeleteGood question on what do we do? Tenure seems a lot like Merit Pay on the fact that we cannot control who gets it and if they really deserve it. So what can we do about this?
ReplyDeletePerspective is great, but what are you doing about it? I hate the idea of 'power in numbers' it has never appealed to me and it hasn't stopped me. I was out in front of the Post office in my town when Tax Day rolled around, telling people that the Federal Reserve System is an unconstitutional privately owned corporation. But I digress, I find complaining a useless practice if you aren't doing anything about it. I've quit convincing people because they don't believe that their system has betrayed them for wealth. I've said it once and I'll say it again until they day I die, Our lack of scrutiny in our government has allowed it to usurp more power than it should lawfully and it has spread to many aspects of our every day lives. I want to be wrong, but the more I find out, the more I wish I am wrong. Just my thoughts on a long and enduring problem that has been around for a while, take it as you will.
ReplyDeleteThe solution is to throw out the concept of tenure and give the oppurtunity of maintaining a job to those who deserve it. The way to find out who deserves to maintain a job is to constantly evaluate the students performance, what the student has to say about the teacher, and evaluate the teacher in their enviorment. In reality as a college student there is absolutley nothing I can do about it. If I could somehow materialize into someone who could actually solve this problem I would. But as all of you actually do know, there is nothing I, as of right now, can do.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this topic because in my high school we had a really really crappy teacher and he was there for so long no matter how many students failed or complained about his slacking in the classroom. for example durring presentations he would read the news paper or being playing online. i personally would like to be "safe" as a teacher but their needs to be some type of guidlines or monthly school board sit in's to monitor the teachers skills.
ReplyDeleteTechnically as a lawful adult you have the ability to give your say to Congress. Though let me say from experience that you'll get a glorified response that is just a bunch of empty words. I have the email to prove it.
ReplyDeleteThat is what the goverment may say and that is the idea that is presented to us. But, call me a hippie, the goverment lies. There is no way to fix it untill the goverment see's a problem. One persons say won't phase them.
ReplyDeleteI love that you were willing to share a personal experience to back up your powerful statements. Teachers should be judged strictly on their abilities and their students' performance. In any other job, if you are not producing results, you will be let go. Why is it not true in the education of our children--the future of this country?
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