Academic tenure facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Tenure is a special kind of job agreement, mostly for professors at universities and colleges. When someone has tenure, it means they have a permanent job that can only be ended for very serious reasons. This could be if they do something very wrong, or if the university faces big money problems.

The main idea behind tenure is to protect academic freedom. This means professors should be free to research, teach, and share ideas without worrying about losing their jobs because their ideas are unpopular or new. Society benefits when thinkers can explore all kinds of views openly.

History of Tenure
Tenure Around the World
Why Tenure is Good
Why Some People Are Against Tenure
See Also

History of Tenure

Tenure became common in American universities in the early 1900s. It was created to stop universities from unfairly firing teachers who had different or unpopular opinions.

One famous example happened with President Elisha Andrews of Brown University. He spoke out about "free silver," an idea to help farmers and people who owed money. Some powerful people on the university's board, who were creditors, didn't like his views. They told him to stop speaking publicly. A dean from Yale Law School even said Andrews' free speech could stop donations to Brown. In 1897, Andrews felt forced to resign. But students and other professors strongly supported his right to speak freely. The board changed its mind and refused his resignation. Andrews still resigned a year later. This event showed how important it was to protect professors' freedom of speech.

Before World War II, Germany was a leader in academic tenure. However, under the Nazi regime, free speech and tenure were severely limited. Adolf Hitler believed that widespread education was "poison." He appointed an Education Minister, Bernard Rust, to make sure Nazi ideas were taught in universities. This led to about 1,500 professors being fired. By 1939, almost half of all university jobs were held by Nazis.

In the late 1940s, the University of Illinois at Urbana fired several well-known economists. Their "crime" was teaching Keynesian economics, which was a new and sometimes controversial economic theory at the time.

Tenure Around the World

United States and Canada

In the United States and Canada, many universities and colleges have a tenure system. Some teaching jobs have tenure, and some do not. To get tenure, professors usually need to show they have done good research, published papers, attracted money for their studies, taught well, and helped with university tasks.

There's a time limit for professors to prove themselves. After a certain number of years, the university must either grant them tenure or let them go. They get plenty of notice if they are not granted tenure. Some universities also require a promotion to "Associate Professor" to get tenure.

Some university jobs are "non-tenure track." These include positions like Instructor, Lecturer, Adjunct Professor, or Research Professor. These jobs usually involve more teaching, have less influence, lower pay, and fewer benefits. They also offer less protection for academic freedom.

The modern idea of tenure in the U.S. began with the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP) "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure." This statement says that "the common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition." It stresses that academic freedom is vital for teaching and research. Many universities use this statement in their rules.

Tenure rights for teachers in (K-12) public schools in the U.S. have also existed for over a hundred years.

United Kingdom

The original form of academic tenure was removed in the United Kingdom in 1988 by the Education Reform Act. Now, universities in the UK have permanent or temporary contracts for academics. A permanent lecturer usually has an open-ended job that includes teaching, research, and administrative duties.

Germany

In Germany, academics are mainly in two groups. Professors are like state civil servants and have very strong job security for life, similar to tenure. However, there's a much larger group of "junior staff" who have temporary contracts, research grants, or part-time jobs.

To become a professor, academics in some fields usually need to complete a "Habilitation." This is like a very advanced second PhD thesis. It allows them to become a "full professor" and get tenure. This means German academics often get tenure at a later age, around 42 years old on average. In 2002, a "Juniorprofessur" position was introduced as another way to become a professor.

German universities have a lot of academic freedom. Professors, as civil servants, have many rights and benefits. Their pay is now often linked to their performance, not just their age.

Denmark

In Denmark, university job ads often say that professor positions are tenured. However, how tenure is understood has caused some arguments.

In the early 2000s, Denmark changed how universities are managed. The government wanted universities to compete for funding, like football clubs, to focus more on marketing and industry.

A controversial example of how tenure is understood in Denmark happened in 2016. The University of Copenhagen fired a well-known professor, Hans Thybo, after 37 years of working there. A court later ruled that the firing was illegal because the university's reasons were false accusations by managers. However, the university did not give Thybo his job back. The university kept him fired even after getting a written statement from a colleague saying the accusation was false. This university has had other similar firings since Thybo's case.

Why Tenure is Good

People who support tenure say that even with its problems, the good parts outweigh the bad. They argue that the discussions about tenure itself are possible because of the academic freedom that tenure provides. They believe tenure is the best way to protect free thinking and different ideas, especially in today's world.

Tenure offers job security, which helps universities attract talented people. In many fields, private companies pay much more than universities. So, tenure helps balance this by offering professors a very secure job. Universities can't pay as much as big companies. Also, research jobs need very specialized skills. Universities can't easily retrain or replace highly specialized professors every year. Tenure helps avoid constant changes in staff while making sure the university has good teachers. The process of getting tenure is very strict, giving the university confidence in the professors they keep permanently.

Most importantly, tenure protects academic freedom. This means professors can research and teach new or unpopular ideas without fear of losing their jobs. This is true even if their ideas go against what their department, university, or funding groups believe. It also protects them when their work challenges old ideas in their field. Tenure creates a safe space where professors can do their work without worrying that an unpopular idea might risk their career. It also creates a group of experienced professors who can defend the quality of education and their colleagues' freedom to teach, research, and speak out.

In elementary and secondary schools, tenure also protects teachers. It stops school districts from firing experienced teachers just to hire less experienced, cheaper ones. It also protects teachers from being fired for teaching topics that might be unpopular or controversial, like evolutionary biology or certain literature.

Some people worry that academic freedom might lead to everyone in a department thinking the same way. But supporters argue that tenure becomes even more important to protect different ideas. If there's a common way of thinking, tenure helps ensure that professors with different views can still be hired and keep their jobs. Removing tenure would make this problem worse.

Critics sometimes say that "tenure protects bad professors." But supporters argue that this is a problem with how the system is used, not with the idea of tenure itself. The system is designed so that bad professors don't get tenure in the first place. If it happens, it means the system didn't work as it should.

Why Some People Are Against Tenure

Some people argue that modern tenure systems actually reduce academic freedom. They say that professors trying to get tenure might feel pressured to agree with the ideas of those who decide on tenure, rather than exploring truly new or different ideas.

Economist Steven Levitt suggests getting rid of tenure for economics professors. He believes it would encourage professors to work harder. He also points out that if tenure were removed, professors would likely need higher salaries to make up for the lost job security.

Some U.S. states have thought about passing laws to remove tenure at public universities.

Another criticism of tenure is that it can lead to professors becoming too comfortable. Once professors have tenure, they might put less effort into their jobs. They know it's hard or expensive for the university to fire them. This can lead to universities keeping professors who are not doing a good job. A history professor once noted that a dean wouldn't tolerate bad teaching from a non-tenured teacher. This suggests that bad teaching might be tolerated if the professor has tenure.