TENURE FOR COLLEGE PROFESSORS SHOULD BE ABOLISHED

TENURE FOR COLLEGE PROFESSORS SHOULD BE ABOLISHED

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Tenure means that after a certain length of time a professor cannot be dismissed from his position no matter his failings. It is a way of defending the principle of academic freedom of speech. It assumes that tenure is beneficial for society in the long run. This allows scholars the freedom to hold and examine a variety of views without fear of termination.

The privilege of tenure has not considered poor professional ethics or abusive behavior towards students and other conservative professors. Currently most professors on campus are not providing both sides of an issue. They are not provoking discussion or debate. The standard of critical thinking has been replaced with adherence to an ideological philosophy of egalitarianism and anti-capitalism. The students are being indoctrinated instead of being provided training to think for themselves. This is the opposite of education and should be reversed.

If a medical professional who is supposed to monitor a patient’s vital signs instead leaves and does something else, he will probably be sued or fired for dereliction of duty. Any employee in a capitalist system who does not perform his primary duties is exposing himself to a legitimate reason to be removed from the position. This principle exists and is necessary in all positions in our free market economy. Without the employer discretion to dismiss a delinquent employee there would be no order and little quality production.

Many tenured college professors are doing just that. They are doing their “own thing,” which means they are doing whatever they feel like doing. Some talk about their pending divorce, dogs, favorite recreational activity, and too often nothing about their assigned subject matter, which often indicates this professor is not prepared. This behavior is as egregious as medical malpractice. Failing to e4ducate a student has lifelong ramifications: a life with diminished career opportunities and the basic inability to critically think. There are numerous professors who have a miniscule number of office hours to assist students to answer their pertinent questions. Many do not show up for their own scheduled office hours.

There are many of them who have an assistant that hands out assignment lists or reads their written lectures. Some highly paid professors have the audacity to not even show up to scheduled classes. Many others strongly advocate progressive ideals that they demand the students repeat to receive a passing grade even though they are opinions, not facts. Most students are learning little of the knowledge they expected to gain while paying an enormous amount of tuition. This results in an accumulated debt for worthless or worse, obvious indoctrination.

Students are the customers who deserve a dedicated teacher for the outrageous amount they are paying for an education. If professors are tenured prima donnas who are not earning the right to represent this honored profession they should be dismissed. University administrators might hide behind tenure, but the students also have the right to a first-rate educator. A diploma without the knowledge or necessary insight in a field of study is not worth the paper it is printed on.

In the modern age where information is at your electronic fingertips, we need educated guides who can assist students’ learning, evaluating and organizing information in a logical, coherent manner. These analytical skills are required in this advanced electronic age where legitimate and false information is cascading down on all citizens. Rather we should be taught how to distill and analyze the information so we can make valid decisions. If we do not develop these essential abilities, we will be targets for exploitation and further brain washing.

Comprehensive, logical thinking is a vital ability to prosper and remain free in this information overload.  A useless diploma shows the student inherited vast tuition debt and lots of wasted time with professors who were never held accountable for their unprofessional and unethical behavior. This is not what students expected.

Freedom of speech does not mean teaching progressive viewpoints as this is straight propaganda. Only by having two or more sides of an issue discussed with all facts and questions explored can a person develop the ability to draw valid conclusions.

We can no longer accept tenure as inevitable and acceptable for agenda driven educators. When professors abuse their positions and do little to create an educational environment of excellence, they need to be fired.

Incompetence or lack of doing one’s duty as a professor is a legitimate reason for being terminated from this influential and honorable position. Tenure for college professors is outdated, no longer serving a useful purpose. It should be abolished to reestablish ethical standards for professors and a worthy education for all students.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.