DEVOUT HERMIT (prismguard)

side images: juliusbetke.blogspot.com & pragmatism.org

prismguard

prismguard
Location
Westchester/Oneida County, New York, United States
Birthday
September 30
Bio
Magendanz String Quartet in h.s.; MA in Lit/ Syracuse; MA in Media Studies/ Antioch; MEd & EdD in Communications & Film/ Teachers College Columbia U. INTERESTS: Pre-Code Hollywood & noir; Canadian, Brit, & cable TV dramas; vintage "issues" TV series (DEFENDERS, JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE, LOU GRANT, THE GUARDIAN); diagramless crosswords; poetry of the Great War, E. A. Robinson, Auden; Nathanael West, Vonnegut, classic detective fiction.

MY RECENT POSTS

MY RECENT COMMENTS

Prismguard's Links

Salon.com
FEBRUARY 22, 2012 10:30AM

Reminder: Teacher Tenure Protects Free Speech, Not Slackers

Rate: 1 Flag

  Topol, John Gielgud, & Tom Conti
in Brecht's Galileo (Joseph Losey, 1975)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb-oJcnHVqM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlMTxjY3NrY&NR=1  

                         galileo
                                                            cartoonstock.com 

Galileo and the Inquisition
http://physics.ucr.edu/~wudka/Physics7/Notes_www/node52.html 

The claim that academic tenure is just one more perk for ineffectual slackers who (in the minds of many) luxuriate in only working ten months of the year is ... ill-informed.  The rhetorical conclusion that elimination of tenure will eliminate the dross from the teaching profession and will lead to radical improvements in test grades and skills acquisition is, put as kindly as possible, egregiously naive.  Bottom line:  attacks against academic tenure are no different than those against collective bargaining.

The achievement of tenure as a legitimate construct of academic freedom harkens back to the McCarthy Period sixty years ago, when teachers could be fired if they allowed topics to be introduced and discussed in the classroom that might offend school boards, religious groups, or dominant government policies.

                              chide
                                                                     law.umkc.edu

Author tags:

astronomy, heresy, fundamentalist religion, scripture, church doctrine, mccarthy period, academic freedom, bertrand russell, anti-nuclear demonstrations, censorship, collective bargaining, education, the red scare, anti-war, darwinism, evolution, scopes trial, intelligent design, scientific method, galileo, bertolt brecht, tom conti, topol, joseph losey

Your tags:

TIP:

Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Recipient's email address:
Personal message (optional):

Your email address:
Cancel

Comments

Type your comment below:
Cancel
That's what it's supposed to protect but unfortunately it doesn't always work that way as you can see. How this works depends on how it is enforced and those in power aren't trying to enforce it properly at all; once again they're trying to use an excuse to gget their political ideology across by indoctrinating children with the people of their choice and accusing their opponents of doing the same.

There are reasonable objections to the current system but those making them aren't getting attention and those with attention aren't making reasonable objections.
zacherydtaylor
February 22, 2012 11:05 AM
Each generation of American students receives ineffective and less instruction is grammar basics, civics, the richness of actual historical events, etc. And each subsequent generation of same culls from these numbers the next teachers of grammar basics, civics, etc. Overcrowded classrooms, kids concentrating of the technologies in their hands during class, parents too distracted by the same techie toys to establish bonds of communication skills and of responsiveness to persons in physical proximity to them.... What chance has education got?

And so American politicians fall back on the "teach to the formal exam" and dump tenure diatribes, to seal the coffin.
prismguard
March 23, 2012 06:59 PM