The current system of tenure ignores merit in favor of seniority, according to Geoffrey Canada, Educational Activist and President of Harlem Children's Zone in Harlem, New York. Teachers become complacent, because it is difficult to terminate them. They have no incentive to improve their abilities and skills. Poorly performing teachers are difficult to remove, requiring months of legal entanglements. The teacher is protected, but the child is not guaranteed a quality education through tenure.
The National Education Association created tenure to protect teachers from terminations that were not work related, according to John Wilson, executive director of the National Education Association in Washington, DC. For instance, teachers should not be fired based on personal grievances, politics or discrimination. Tenure protects teachers from being terminated and replaced by someone with less experience and a lower salary for budgeting reasons alone. Tenure ensures that teachers are terminated due only to incompetence, unprofessionalism, poor performance and inappropriate and neglectful conduct.
Tenure is an unnecessary complication today, because teachers have unions that allow for collective bargaining and protection from termination. It costs thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars to terminate a tenured teacher, even if he has poor performance. Teachers cannot show how much they are worth in the few years required for them to obtain tenure. Tenure is not earned any longer. It is given to teachers in primary school where professors in colleges and universities must earn their tenure through publishing and research.
Tenure protects teachers who explore new ideas, even controversial topics and challenging curricula. Without tenure protection, teachers may reuse old lesson plans and not bring in new, fresh materials and innovations for fear that they would lose their jobs. Teachers are afraid to try new strategies in the classroom. Teachers can also be student advocates if they are protected by tenure, and it protects teachers from false student accusations. Administrators are more likely to take time and care in selecting effective, qualified and innovative educators.