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http://chronicle.com/article/Parents-Your-Children-Need/124776/
Parents: Your Children Need Professors With Tenure
If you follow the news these days, you know that tenure is getting a bad rap
. Fox News in particular will tell you that tenure shields radicals who are
trying to indoctrinate your children to overthrow the government. In truth,
it's hard to find any faculty member sending that message. No matter. It's a
good scare tactic. But even the responsible press prefers editorials and op
-ed essays claiming that tenure protects deadwood, preserves an aging
professoriate, and costs too much money. Although each of those claims can
be proved wrong, they have gained traction anyway.
The most recent federal statistics on the age of the faculty were released
in 2004. They tell us that, at four-year colleges, the percentage of full-
time faculty members aged 55 or older was 28 percent. How many were 65 or
older? Only 7 percent. It doesn't appear that most faculty members are great
-grandparents.
As for costs, universities typically spend only one-third of their budgets
on faculty salaries. Despite more than 10 years of education after high
school, most people standing in front of a college classroom earn less than
$60,000 a year, considering that contingent faculty members, who are not
eligible for tenure, make up two-thirds of the faculty work force. Most earn
well less than $35,000. And most graduate students paid as teachers earn
less than $20,000 a year.
It's not faculty salaries that have grown so much over the years; it's the
increasing number of administrators and their salaries—along with
unnecessary building—that is breaking the higher-education bank. That's
where your tuition money goes. Why? Because administrators set one another's
salaries and pad their staffs.
As for deadwood? Well, the job market for faculty members has been
extraordinarily competitive for 40 years. Colleges everywhere have been able
to hire outstanding faculty members, people who work hard and stay current
in their fields because they love what they do. The deadwood retired or died
years ago.
"So what?" you may say. The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker
don't have tenure. Your wife, husband, partner, and next-door neighbor don't
have tenure. Why should faculty members have job security after seven years
? The short answer is that tenure guarantees the quality and integrity of
higher education—by securing faculty members' intellectual independence.
Your children need tenured college professors.
In truth, many Americans deserve better job security than they have. But the
people responsible for teaching your children have a special need to be
protected from capricious dismissal. If your children are going to be taught
to think rigorously and creatively—which is their best route to success—
they need to be taught by teachers who can be rigorous, creative, and
courageous as well. Tenure doesn't guarantee that college teachers will be
courageous. But it protects those who are.
Professors without tenure are nothing more than at-will employees. They can
be fired tomorrow or whenever their contracts expire. One complaint from a
student, parent, or politician is all it may take. What if a professor
offends a parent or preacher by teaching evolution? What if a professor
expresses sympathy for unpopular religious beliefs? What if a professor
admits that he or she supports gay rights? What if a professor asks students
whether the war in Iraq was in the national interest? Worst of all, what if
a professor asks students whether the college really needs that fancy new
administration building? Administrators who prefer to avoid controversy just
won't send that professor a new contract.
A college must be a place where all views can be aired. A college professor
must be able to voice controversial views and challenge his or her students
to question their assumptions and, at the very least, learn to define and
defend them more effectively. Too many faculty members without tenure do not
want to take that risk. Tenure doesn't protect bad professors, but it does
mean that complaints have to be considered at a formal hearing.
Students and faculty members alike must be free to question commonplace
beliefs, challenge their college administrations, and criticize politicians
without fear of reprisal. Don't count on this essential principle of
academic freedom's being exercised if your children's teachers aren't
eligible for tenure. Your children may never again work in a place where
free debate is encouraged. But the country as a whole will be better off if
they've had the experience in their college years.
Tenure produces many other practical benefits. Tenure-track and tenured
professors are able to work with one another to plan the college curriculum
and deliver the best possible education. They also have much more reason to
feel strong institutional loyalty and to devote themselves wholeheartedly to
their jobs. Faculty members not eligible
Parents: Your Children Need Professors With Tenure
If you follow the news these days, you know that tenure is getting a bad rap
. Fox News in particular will tell you that tenure shields radicals who are
trying to indoctrinate your children to overthrow the government. In truth,
it's hard to find any faculty member sending that message. No matter. It's a
good scare tactic. But even the responsible press prefers editorials and op
-ed essays claiming that tenure protects deadwood, preserves an aging
professoriate, and costs too much money. Although each of those claims can
be proved wrong, they have gained traction anyway.
The most recent federal statistics on the age of the faculty were released
in 2004. They tell us that, at four-year colleges, the percentage of full-
time faculty members aged 55 or older was 28 percent. How many were 65 or
older? Only 7 percent. It doesn't appear that most faculty members are great
-grandparents.
As for costs, universities typically spend only one-third of their budgets
on faculty salaries. Despite more than 10 years of education after high
school, most people standing in front of a college classroom earn less than
$60,000 a year, considering that contingent faculty members, who are not
eligible for tenure, make up two-thirds of the faculty work force. Most earn
well less than $35,000. And most graduate students paid as teachers earn
less than $20,000 a year.
It's not faculty salaries that have grown so much over the years; it's the
increasing number of administrators and their salaries—along with
unnecessary building—that is breaking the higher-education bank. That's
where your tuition money goes. Why? Because administrators set one another's
salaries and pad their staffs.
As for deadwood? Well, the job market for faculty members has been
extraordinarily competitive for 40 years. Colleges everywhere have been able
to hire outstanding faculty members, people who work hard and stay current
in their fields because they love what they do. The deadwood retired or died
years ago.
"So what?" you may say. The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker
don't have tenure. Your wife, husband, partner, and next-door neighbor don't
have tenure. Why should faculty members have job security after seven years
? The short answer is that tenure guarantees the quality and integrity of
higher education—by securing faculty members' intellectual independence.
Your children need tenured college professors.
In truth, many Americans deserve better job security than they have. But the
people responsible for teaching your children have a special need to be
protected from capricious dismissal. If your children are going to be taught
to think rigorously and creatively—which is their best route to success—
they need to be taught by teachers who can be rigorous, creative, and
courageous as well. Tenure doesn't guarantee that college teachers will be
courageous. But it protects those who are.
Professors without tenure are nothing more than at-will employees. They can
be fired tomorrow or whenever their contracts expire. One complaint from a
student, parent, or politician is all it may take. What if a professor
offends a parent or preacher by teaching evolution? What if a professor
expresses sympathy for unpopular religious beliefs? What if a professor
admits that he or she supports gay rights? What if a professor asks students
whether the war in Iraq was in the national interest? Worst of all, what if
a professor asks students whether the college really needs that fancy new
administration building? Administrators who prefer to avoid controversy just
won't send that professor a new contract.
A college must be a place where all views can be aired. A college professor
must be able to voice controversial views and challenge his or her students
to question their assumptions and, at the very least, learn to define and
defend them more effectively. Too many faculty members without tenure do not
want to take that risk. Tenure doesn't protect bad professors, but it does
mean that complaints have to be considered at a formal hearing.
Students and faculty members alike must be free to question commonplace
beliefs, challenge their college administrations, and criticize politicians
without fear of reprisal. Don't count on this essential principle of
academic freedom's being exercised if your children's teachers aren't
eligible for tenure. Your children may never again work in a place where
free debate is encouraged. But the country as a whole will be better off if
they've had the experience in their college years.
Tenure produces many other practical benefits. Tenure-track and tenured
professors are able to work with one another to plan the college curriculum
and deliver the best possible education. They also have much more reason to
feel strong institutional loyalty and to devote themselves wholeheartedly to
their jobs. Faculty members not eligible
