I have heard of tenure all of my life, but I really don’t understand it. I know there is probably a raise involved and some kind of guarantee of not getting fired, but what else is so great about it?
I don't understand it either, but to those who believe in it, it is an entitlement.
Those in the private sector don't get tenure.
It's for government employees, where if they are accepted by their other entrenched government employee co-workers, they give them this thing called "tenure"...
Which means they have a job for life in most cases, with lottery style retirement benefits.
Tenure is supposed to allow teachers the freedom to teach truth and not be subject to the whims of politics and personal animosities. For example, I know of one case when a band director was fired because a school board member’s son was caught by the police “rolling” the director’s yard. Although the director hadn’t called the police, the kid was caught by the police just driving by, and the miscreant only had to clean it up, the teacher was fired. He did not have tenure.
Before tenure was awarded, abuse of power was rampant. Now the pendulum has swung the other direction and bad teachers are given a free pass.
After 6 years teaching at a university in a tenure-track position, you either get tenure or you’re out of a job. You don’t get the opportunity to keep hanging around on a non-tenured basis. And it’s tough on an academic resume to have been denied tenure after spending the 6 six years in a tenure-track position — there’s no way to conceal it.
Before a someone can start a faculty position at a research university, they have to earn a Ph.D. (typically 5-6 years), and in the sciences may have to work a couple of years as a ‘postdoctoral’ researcher. Then if they get get an appointment as an Assistant Professor, they are evaluated for tenure in their 6th year at most universities. So by that time, they have 10-12 years invested in their career.
Tenure for faculty members is an ‘up or out’ decision. So the decision that a faculty member won’t get tenure not only means that they won’t have a job for life, but also means that they will have to look for a new job, almost always at a smaller, less prestigious university.
Sadly, a lot of people who pursue academic careers invest their entire lives in their ‘research’ which consists of writing obscure papers that are read by a handful of people worldwide. They completely lose perspective that they what they are doing is just a job, or that the main point of the job is to teach students.
Being turned down means you lose your job. It’s up or out. With a degree in neuroscience she shouldn’t have any problem getting another one but it won’t be at a prestigious research university.