Peter Greene describes what it would be like to teach in a public school without tenure. Anyone in the building with more authority than a teacher has the power to end his or her career, for any reason.

The worst thing, he writes, is not that you can be fired for anything at all. The worst thing is the threat of firing.

He writes:

“Firing ends a teacher’s career. The threat of firing allows other people to control every day of that teacher’s career.

“The threat of firing is the great “Do this or else…” It takes all the powerful people a teacher must deal with and arms each one with a nuclear device.

“Give my child the lead in the school play, or else. Stop assigning homework to those kids, or else. Implement these bad practices, or else. Keep quiet about how we are going to spend the taxpayers’ money, or else. Forget about the bullying you saw, or else. Don’t speak up about administration conduct, or else. Teach these materials even though you know they’re wrong, or else. Stop advocating for your students, or else.

“Firing simply stops a teacher from doing her job.

“The threat of firing coerces her into doing the job poorly.

“The lack of tenure, of due process, of any requirement that a school district only fire teachers for some actual legitimate reason– it interferes with teachers’ ability to do the job they were hired to do. It forces teachers to work under a chilling cloud where their best professional judgment, their desire to advocate for and help students, their ability to speak out and stand up are all smothered by people with the power to say, “Do as I tell you, or else.”

“Civilians need to understand– the biggest problem with the destruction of tenure is not that a handful of teachers will lose their jobs, but that entire buildings full of teachers will lose the freedom to do their jobs well…..

“Without tenure, every teacher is the pawn and puppet of whoever happens to be the most powerful person in the building today. Without tenure, anybody can shoulder his way into the classroom and declare, “You’re going to do things my way, or else.”

“Tenure is not a crown and scepter for every teacher, to make them powerful and untouchable. Tenure is a bodyguard who stands at the classroom door and says, “You go ahead and teach, buddy. I’ll make sure nobody interrupts just to mess with you.” Taxpayers are paying us for our best professional judgment; the least they deserve is a system that allows us to give them what they’re paying us for.”