A teacher in California, of excellent character and teaching ability, was dismissed by a corrupt school board for no good reason. The case was taken to court. The teacher was reinstated, on the proper grounds that she had a contract for the term and had not defaulted on it. No one can ever guarantee that an employer will always use rational criteria in judging the qualifications of an employee, but when there is a contractual agreement involved, one can always turn to the courts if one party fails to comply with the stipulations of the contract. Tenured teachers and professors realize that they do not have to broaden their intellectual scope in order to retain their positions.
Tenure is a practice which naturally follows from the philosophy of collectivists.
It is a means of rewarding mediocrity and allowing it to degenerate into stagnant parasitism. Academic tenure creates scholastic somnambulism. To grant any man a permanent position simply on the basis of performance during a trial period, is to introduce a possible disruptive element into a dynamic system which could, and often does, drastically impede progress. If an employee is efficient and performs his tasks well, it is to the advantage of the employer to retain the services of this individual. If an employee finds the employer and the job to his liking, it is to his advantage to remain in his present position.