I have to agree with you here. Both my parents were career teachers (then professors). One was in the NYCDOE - she could talk your ear off about the mispraftice

I have to agree with you here. Both my parents were career teachers (then professors). One was in the NYCDOE - she could talk your ear off about the mispraftices of the teacher's union and the unfairness of lackeys promoted to a position of tenure in a school administration. There's another issue here too - I know very qualified teachers who can't leave the city public schools because people with tenure reduce the amount of open positions on the market. This is partly market saturation of teachers, but still, it's hard to find a lucrative school system with more than one position open, and even then it's flooded with spammed resumes. EDIT: I'd like to note that the "unfireability" isn't by itself a bad thing. It's just that the system rewards consistent mediocrity rather than relatively untested brilliance. The first people out the door are young and unexperienced teachers, even if they have a higher track record for success than their seniors. It's deplorable.