Thursday, August 04, 2011

SOS thoughts

So this is how much I dislike writing. It's my second day of ... well, neither bedrest nor house-arrest, but something in between. I haven't spent all the time in bed, but I haven't left the bedroom much at all, either.

And I'm FINALLY bored enough to write. ;) Although I'm very seriously considering using this time to label the books I got at the ALA convention.

Tenure

No, teachers who have earned tenure are not guaranteed a job for life. However, tenure DOES make it more work to fire an employee under its protection. The media keeps rambling about how hard it is to fire bad teachers, but I'd say that's because administration isn't doing its job. Good teachers don't become bad teachers overnight, and administration is SUPPOSED to evaluate all teachers on a regular basis. If this was done competently, then steps could be taken BEFORE things got really bad, whether it was support or warnings.

Instead, we hear about teachers cussing at students or sleeping in class. How did it get to that point?! Either someone made a REALLY BAD hiring decision, or the behaviors developed gradually - and could have been addressed years earlier.

It's a false dichotomy - either we get rid of tenure, or we're stuck with bad teachers. And that's just not correct.

3 comments:

Mr. B-G said...

Well said! False dichotomy indeed. Thanks for a rational analysis on an issue that too many clearly don't understand.

Clix said...

Thanks! I do think the k-12 tenure and payment system needs to be updated... and I think I also have a post coming up about collective bargaining. But that means more writing - YUCK! ;)

Philip said...

I like the way you put that, "false dichotomy."

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