The Myth of Tenure

Our blog posts are often too long, and we live in the age of the sound-byte, so in brief:

If they want you gone, you’re gone.

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Veteran teachers know:

If they like you, you can do anything you want--come late, never hand back papers, dress crazy, not bathe, and you're golden. You're untouchable.

It is so much like being back in high school--you know, the arbitrariness, the impossibility of figuring out how to "get liked"--

....you may not know what you did--perhaps you looked at someone funny, perhaps your sub plans were on the right side of your desk instead of the left side of your desk, perhaps you made friends with the "wrong" people....but once "they" have set their hats against you....you may as well put in for a transfer and get your resume in shape.

We speak not from a place of bitterness, but from witnessing others disappear. Haven't you noticed this? One day someone's there, the next they're gone? And we often assume that because it is "so hard to fire a teacher," that person must have done something morally reprehensible, unforgivable, a crime against nature. They deserved to go. Why else would the administration go to such trouble, given that it is so hard to get rid of a "bad" teacher!!!

And, of course, administrators, being paragons of virtue and entirely lacking in human emotion, never act out vendettas...[SARCASM ALERT!!! SARCASM ALERT!!!]

We call this the myth of tenure:

When you can be harrassed for taking children to a publicly financed art museum, and they see art,

you ain't got tenure; you ain't got squat. [Technically, this teacher wasn't fired...we are researching what happened to her. However, harrassment, poor evaluations, and constant beratement is one of the tools employed to drive people out...]

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We have found that frequently, when someone vanishes, the rumor mill actively reports that the person did something abominable; months later, we find out not only was the person exonerated, but is happily, successfully teaching elsewhere, or, living on a beach enjoying the interest on the hefty settlement and hush money they received...

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When a colleague is "disappeared," we suggest that you find out what really happened before you pass judgement.

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More examples to follow, and ways to avoid being placed on the sh*t list. In the main, we aim to make this a forum for the real, secret knowledge all veteran teachers have, which is usually transmitted via oral tradition in faculty rooms, at bars, and psychically, through looks and expressions.

Teacher gender depresses salaries?

As of December 12, 2007,

"Gender diversity in teaching – Males comprised 24.4% of public schoolteachers in 2006. Many of them taught in Kansas (33.3%), Oregon (31.4%), Alaska (30.9%) or Indiana (30.5%). States with the lowest percentage of male faculty were Arkansas (17.5%), Mississippi (17.7%), Louisiana (17.8%), South Carolina (17.9%), Virginia (18.8%) and Georgia (19.3%). Wisconsin ranked 12th in the nation (27.6%). " [NEA, 12/12/07]*


Has someone researched the correlation between low percentages of male teachers and lower salaries [adjusted for cost-of-living] on a state-by-state basis?

The deeply, deeply entrenched sexism in our society may account in part for this phenomenon. Notions that women make better caretakers, that teaching is just glorified childcare and other like attitudes contribute to the complex of issues. And, it is possible that men flee this profession, or fail to even consider it because salaries are lower, thus continuing a cycle. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

The issues of social class, gender, and public perception affecting teachers' salaries are not easily unravelled. They include (and are certainly not limited to):

• attitudes towards teaching/teachers [caretakers, babysitters, "anyone can do it"]
• lower salaries compared to similarly educated peers
• character/qualities of people drawn to teaching (nobility, compassion)
• those who do not need the income drawn into teaching because they can afford to do it
• teaching regarded as an entry into the middle class by minority/disenfranchised groups, contributing to willingness to accept lower salary

Looking elsewhere, in Russia, the medical profession--specifically the pool of MDs--has a higher percentage of females than in the US. And the relative salaries (compared to cost of living ) are also lower. In Russia. Where women are more likely to be doctors.

Let the research begin. An excellent place to start is this brilliant examination of the subject:

"The Feminization of Teaching in America," by Elizabeth Boyle:

http://web.mit.edu/wgs/prize/eb04.html

(Amusingly, "blogpost" does not recognize feminization as a word....)


* from the NEA, via The Wisconsin Education Council
"The complete report can be found at http://www.nea.org/edstats/images/07rankings.pdf"


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Before we get our panties in a bunch--we are not asking anyone to self-identify as a feminist or in any way to embrace a world-view with which they have problems.

However, don't you want to know what might be driving your salary into the ditch?