Is Academic Tenure The Reason For Degradation Of American Higher Education?

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Do you think that the American secondary education system can be considered the best worldwide? Well I surely don’t. Apparently, many education leaders and analysts agree with me as they believe that the prevalent primary and secondary education in the US has become rather unpromising. However, these people will also claim that tertiary education in the United States is unrivalled. That may have been true once, but does it hold true even today? 

The Advent Of Tenure

 

A few years ago, US universities were the hub of prominent teachers and researchers and it provided the educators an opportunity to climb to the top. However, things started to change with the introduction of tenure. If you ask me, brilliance in teaching is not the right way for you to achieve tenure. If you wish to get tenure then you need to invest more time in campus politics, research and publishing. I don’t think teaching is one of the requisites as most see it as merely a distraction. I have known many professors who think that being a university professor is a great job; the only downside is dealing with students. 

Is Tenure Necessary? 

 

I don’t really know. I think it is only a refuge for teachers who are incompetent. But the sad truth is today the academic sphere in the United States of America is steered only by tenured educators. These teachers spend most of their time doing research and being present in the library. Although they will not admit, but most of these teachers believe that students approaching them, whether for additional guidance, asking about grade issues or submitting assignments and papers for grades, is an obstruction to what professors consider to be their actual work. 

Can you think of any profession around the globe which offers you a lifetime guarantee of employment if you simply work for 7 years, excluding at a university? Me neither. The truth is you will have to perform at your job irrespective of whether you are a lawyer or a doctor. However, if you are a university professor in the US and if you have tenure, you will never need to prove your merits or skills ever again. Unless you plan on becoming a criminal, you have an assured job for your lifetime. 

The Greatest Bubble

 

The truth is academic tenure is a comparatively recent issue in the American education system. If you ask me, the justification of academic freedom for providing tenure sounds rather absurd nowadays. Why would a physics professor need to have tenure for life to depict hi beliefs on gravity in the classroom? Do you think an accounting professor needs tenure to guard his opinion on assets and liabilities? The rationale for tenure is a rather ludicrous justification for providing for lifetime employment. 

I think that tenure for life is undoubtedly a facet of the American exceptionalism which makes the US tertiary education one of the most notable and largest bubbles of our era. 

What do you think about tenure in US universities? Feel free to share your feedback and thoughts by commenting below. 

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