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[Debate/토론] (PC-017) Should Teachers Get Tenure?
최고관리자  |  18-07-22 10:26
Teacher tenure is the increasingly controversial form of job protection that public school teachers in 46 states receive after 1-5 years on the job. An estimated 2.3 million teachers have tenure. 

Proponents of tenure argue that it protects teachers from being fired for personal or political reasons, and prevents the firing of experienced teachers to hire less expensive new teachers. They contend that since school administrators grant tenure, neither teachers nor teacher unions should be unfairly blamed for problems with the tenure system.

Opponents of tenure argue that this job protection makes the removal of poorly performing teachers so difficult and costly that most schools end up retaining their bad teachers. They contend that tenure encourages complacency among teachers who do not fear losing their jobs, and that tenure is no longer needed given current laws against job discrimination.

Pros

1. Tenure protects teachers from being fired for personal, political, or other non-work related reasons. 

2. Tenure prohibits school districts from firing experienced teachers to hire less experienced and less expensive teachers. 

3. Tenure protects teachers from being fired for teaching unpopular, controversial, or otherwise 
challenged curricula such as evolutionary biology and controversial literature.

4. The promise of a secure and stable job attracts many teachers to the teaching profession, 
and eliminating teacher tenure would hamper teacher recruitment.

5. Tenure helps guarantee innovation in teaching.

6. Teacher tenure is a justifiable reward for several years of positive evaluations by school administrators.

7. Tenure allows teachers to advocate on behalf of students and disagree openly with school and district administrators.

Cons

1. Teacher tenure creates complacency because teachers know they are unlikely to lose their jobs. 

2. Tenure makes it difficult to remove under-performing teachers because the process involves months of 
legal wrangling by the principal, the school board, the union, and the courts. 

3. Tenure makes seniority the main factor in dismissal decisions instead of teacher performance and quality.

4. Tenure is not needed to recruit teachers. 

5. With job protections granted through court rulings, collective bargaining, and state and federal laws, 
teachers today no longer need tenure to protect them from dismissal.

6. Tenure makes it costly for schools to remove a teacher with poor performance or who is guilty of wrongdoing.

7. With most states granting tenure after three years, teachers have not had the opportunity to "show their worth, 
or their ineptitude."