3 ms·

Why do instructors deserve tenure?

• rosser 8y ago
  The theory, as I understand it, is that without tenure or a mechanism like it people might not feel empowered to research controversial subjects, or draw conclusions which challenge conventions, for example.
  • opportune 8y ago
    What I was implying was that instructors =/= professor. Don't really think adjuncts need tenure any more than public school teachers (though I know some public school teachers in certain districts can get "tenure")
• Steuard 8y ago
  The point of the article, as I read it, is that 50 years ago there basically weren't instructors: very few college/university classes were taught by anyone other than (tenured or tenure-track) professors. That model has been increasingly abandoned in recent years: "we discard[ed] the idea of college faculty". If there ever was a reason that university teachers deserved tenure, that reason has eroded or been outright cast aside over the past few decades. The author of the article thinks that's a bad thing, and I tend to agree.