Shamefully deceptive

This would be a truthful editorial if the unions did not make it so hard to let a teacher go that districts don't even try. Tenure combined with an intransigent union, lead by the author, that does not allow for performance-based criteria DOES equal a job for life for anybody that avoids a criminal conviction. To leave that nuance out is deceptive; lying by omission in the pursuit of political gain. I'm not arguing that the tenure system was not prudent in an era when totalitarian principles abused teachers, and labor laws were not in place to protect them. What I am saying is that good labor laws and protections against firing-on-whim can provide all the protection tenure defenders desire, without providing immunity from evaluation. Teaching is a profession, and teachers should be subject to the same need to perform as other skilled professionals. And that includes reevaluation over time. However promising we might be when we are 22, we are different performers when we are 32, 42, 52 and 62. Working hard for 3 years and coasting for 30+ should not be an option. And that is why many of us (including my spouse, a tenured teacher) oppose tenure.

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