3 Comments

  • Tenure is a great vehicle for intellectuals to challenge policies and common (mis-)beliefs/ theories without fear of termination, etc. Mr. Graham seems to have given up on that great system, I hope he is an exception and others will use their tenure status more aggressively.

  • “Tenure is a great vehicle for intellectuals to challenge policies and common (mis-)beliefs/ theories without fear of termination”

    It’s also a great vehicle to protect incompetent professors and to allow crackpots to promote misbeliefs and junk theories.

  • Depends on how the tenure is earned.
    In academia one must be highly productive and seriously sacrifice your life outside of work. You may debate the value of the metrics of productivity (papers, vs teaching, vs other activities), but tenured profs got that way through at least a decade of butt kicking work after a decade of college/graduate/post-graduate education.

    Contrast that with tenure for public school teachers, where for not much more than showing up for 3-5 years, and maybe earning an on-line masters in education (not even a masters in the subject they intend to teach). Tenure for school teachers is a given for all but those who somehow manage to get fired pretty quickly.