If Obama were an Untenured Teacher...

...judging by this piece from the AP, he'd be facing parental calls for dismissal over such "controversial" behavior as -

• Admitt[ing] to Europeans that America deserves at least part of the blame for the world's financial crisis because it did not regulate high-flying and greedy Wall Street gamblers. . . .
• [Shaking] hands with, more than once, and accept[ing] a book from Hugo Chavez, the virulently anti-American leader of oil-rich Venezuela. . . .
• [Saying] America's appetite for illegal drugs and its lax control of the flow of guns and cash to Mexico were partly to blame for the drug-lord-inspired violence that is rattling the southern U.S. neighbor. . . .
• [Saying] that first, he remains intent on telling the world that the United States is a powerful and wealthy nation that realizes it is just one country among many. [But also saying] he believes that other countries have "good ideas" and interests that cannot be ignored.
• [Saying] the United States best represents itself by living up to its universal values and ideas, [but] it must also respect the variety of cultures and perspectives that guide both American foes and friends.

If the president of the United States catches hell for being civil and speaking common sense, imagine how dangerous such behavior as a teacher can be. That's one reason tenure is important. It allows teachers to approach politically unpopular ideas without jeopardizing their jobs, instead of being classroom propagandists and mythologists.

Time Magazine managing editor Richard Stengel doesn't seem to get this unique justification for tenure in the teaching profession. In his sloppy fluff piece on Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Stengel goes from interviewer to anti-labor tool with this comment:

I think parents look at tenured teachers and say, I don't have tenure in my job — why should teachers have tenure?

Sheesh, Dick, most parents don't face unemployment for exercising academic freedom and intellectual integrity. You don't get fired on Wall Street or Main Street for pointing out that America is not perfect or Genesis is not a science textbook. You do in schools.

To Duncan's credit, he doesn't seize on Stengel's line to ramp up the union-bashing even more (though he doesn't object to it with any force either).

Image by marcn