Arguments Against Tenure

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The growing political and public hostility towards tenure makes the policy more likely to be modified or even eliminated as a whole. Tenure diseases public education and the most effective cure lies in the hands of the government. By changing or completely ridding of tenure in public secondary education, the quality of American education would increase. The “…attacks on tenure come as much from progovernment Democrats as from anti-government Republicans. Progovernment, New Democratic reformers see ending tenure as a way to improve the operation and thus the legitimacy of government programs. Even union leaders are sometimes unwilling to defend tenure publicly, suggesting that they realize the political weakness of the concept.” (Hess). The anti-tenure movement is supported by democrats and …show more content…

If everyone seems to be rallying against it, then when will things change? It is difficult to defend tenure because the arguments against it are so strong. Therefore, “because tenure has lost public legitimacy, political leaders who seek to end tenure are less likely to pay a political price for doing so. The erosion of union strength in the private sector means that the education and public employee unions will find it more difficult to rally broad-based support.” (Hess). The public does not like tenure, but other issues in Washington make it difficult to get policy makers to push this issue to the top of their agenda. However, politicians need to take advantage of the public amnesty to kill tenure. Because the general public is against tenure, the politician will not lose popularity by going against the teachers’ union. Also, because the union itself is breaking down, there will be less of a fight to keep tenure. However, politics in the decentralized government move slowly, and with other pressing issues on the agenda, tenure will be an issue that will disappear

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