[PDUB]

Originally Posted by turnpike boy

Not directly. Wife is an elementary teacher (32 years) and daughter is also (4 years). While not a teacher myself, it is impossible to escape the impact that administrations heap on staff when so close to the action. It would take far too long to give you blow-by-blow examples, but they are manifest to both in my family.

PDUB, as Anthony noted parent involvement plays a major role in the success - and lack thereof - of kids in school. The sh*t that happens here is almost too surreal to accept as fact....but it is.

How about you, PDUB? - are you an employee of the system?

Originally Posted by Cobrabill

No.............

Yes, the parents/family are the driving factor!

No, I am not an employee of the system. However, I have been a tenured professor in higher education, and worked at multiple institutions, large and small, in the past.

Tenure is a complex issue. Though, tenure would not really be an issue for you TPB, since that is typically found in higher ed., rather than in primary and secondary education. As for "heaps of impact," to a great extent, gov't regulation plays a large role. And, I think it is only going to continue to get worse.

In general, I think administrators are not using tenure as a means to stack the faculty ranks with lackeys, etc. Rather, it is department-level faculty, acting on agenda, who seek to recruit "like-minded" comrades to join the ranks. This is especially true in public institutions' arts type programs... less so in science, technology, and engineering. It is much less of an issue with private institutions. I have seen very good talent unfairly chased out due to political/world view conflicts.

The notion of tenure is noble... protecting academic freedom. One does not have to look far to see the potential for abuse of academic freedom in the recently revealed emails from the climate scientists in the UK. Researchers going against global warming were/are likely at risk. The video on the Cloud Mystery that Kirkham posted is another indicator of this potential.

Tenure as an institution is clearly under attack and has been for some time. But, I think that the problem/reason it has come under attack is two-fold. First, faculty have lost control of the academy. In the process, they have not been fastidious about policing their ranks for adequate performance once a person achieves tenure. To be sure, they are active in regulating performance at the tenure/promotion review process. But, this is lost in some cases after the full-professor rank is reached. The primary responsibility resides with the faculty to take action, but they typically don't. In fact, when an administrator attempts to take action there is an outcry of foul; a perception of attacking academic freedom. No doubt, the problem is that it is a slippery slope; one that could easily be abused. Thus, many are reticent to attempt to oust a tenured faculty member. Yet, each year tenured faculty are fired/dismissed for cause. And lawsuits abound.

Second, many faculty have crossed the line into political activism, which compromises their integrity as teachers. No need to give examples... we've all seen them in recent years.

I think that in some cases, the faculty have called this scrutiny on themselves. Faculty that become lazy/unprepared create and issue. Faculty that teach agenda driven (on either side) topics stray from the initial protection of academic freedom as outlined in early documents.

Both the public at large and the academic community should look back to the AAUP's 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, and re-establish the tenure system under this form (I think this is available at the AAUP website). This documentation provides definitive guidelines to validate solid parameters for professional conduct within the tenure system, dispelling some of the suspicion by those outside of the academy that tenure was conceived and devised merely as a means of securing a life-term position so that professors could relax and get by with as little as possible. The original intent of tenure is clearly stated; it was not for the well-being of the professor or individual colleges, but for the welfare of society – a means of promoting the common good.

Within each of the sections on academic freedom, there is a protection for the teacher, but these protections are accompanied by restrictions and responsibilities. Section a promotes that the teacher is to have academic and research freedom, but only so long as teaching duties are not neglected. Section b outlines that the teacher is to have freedom of expression in the classroom, so long as a personal, unrelated agenda does not interfere with the subject matter. In section c, the document notes that teachers have all the rights of private citizens. However, due to the respect afforded to the noble profession of teaching, they must conduct even matters in the private community with honor, accuracy, dignity, and respect, knowing that the opinions expressed reflect not just personally on the individual teacher, but also on the institution in particular and the profession in general.

Now, most institutions are addressing something called "post-tenure review." This is another process for evaluation of senior faculty, meant to dispell public dissatisfaction with the tenure system.

I must say that most of the people I worked with were quite productive. Higher ed. faculty typically have a three-pronged responsibilty set that includes teaching, scolarly activity, and service. I was fortunate to have been able to accomplish all three successfully. Many do it very well, but you know what they say about a few bad apples...

This became longer than I had anticipated, so I will stop here. If anyone really is interested (NOT!), I'll be happy to discuss potential consequenses of dismantling the tenure system. I hope this helps in general understanding of the system...