Re:The case for getting rid of tenure.
by btilly on Thursday August 19, 2010 @03:48AM
(#1616771)
My father-in-law would have supported this whole-heartedly.
He got disillusioned with math after he got tenure. So he stopped doing research. He went to the department head and said, "Since I'm not doing research, why don't you just schedule me to teach more courses?" He was turned down because the department head didn't want him to make the other professors look bad. He made the offer repeatedly until he got tired of hearing the nos.
The end result? He puttered around for 15 years after that. His classes were always well attended. Students who attended his section of the course always did better on tests. But he never again got a promotion, and he was never allowed to teach any more courses than anyone else.
I think that a system without tenure would have forced him to make choices that made him happier. A system that actually rewarded teaching would have both made him happier, and have served the students well.
He got disillusioned with math after he got tenure. So he stopped doing research. He went to the department head and said, "Since I'm not doing research, why don't you just schedule me to teach more courses?" He was turned down because the department head didn't want him to make the other professors look bad. He made the offer repeatedly until he got tired of hearing the nos.
The end result? He puttered around for 15 years after that. His classes were always well attended. Students who attended his section of the course always did better on tests. But he never again got a promotion, and he was never allowed to teach any more courses than anyone else.
I think that a system without tenure would have forced him to make choices that made him happier. A system that actually rewarded teaching would have both made him happier, and have served the students well.