Whenever our discussions turn to higher education, my tea party friend’s first point of complaint is the tenure system.
Of course. Tenure is low-hanging fruit for critics of colleges and universities. A cushy, high-paying job that comes with a guarantee that you can never be fired? Where in the world of private enterprise can you find such a plush racket?
But most criticism of tenure relies on misinformation. I taught freshman composition for three decades at a large community college in south Texas. I had tenure. I did not have a guaranteed “job for life.”