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Originally Posted by Sweetpea
What's a tenure system? And Unionization?
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In the United States, most public school teachers belong to a trade union of teachers. The union bargains for pay, benefits, and protections.
In the early 1950s, as a reaction to MacCarthyism and past practices in local school districts, many states passed laws to protect teachers. After so many years (usually 3), a teacher either has to be fired or, if not fired, given tenure. Tenure means that the teacher can no longer be fired except for very specific reasons, which are very limited, and only after lengthy administrative hearings and appeals. The idea was to prevent teachers being fired because someone disagreed with their political views; it has morphed into the permanent employment act for teachers.
In many states, tenured teachers can only be fired if they have abused students. Merely being incompetent is insufficient. And even where incompetency is recognized as a ground for dismissal, it is almost impossible to prove and very costly. If you search the New York Times for teacher firings, you will find articles that explain the problem. Today's New York Times had a front page article on the current status of the subject in New York City.
Teacher unions, even when all other teachers agree that a particular teacher is incompetent, fight any dismissal attempts.
Tenure and teacher unions have become a major problem in U.S. education.