LttE - Tenure vs. competition

Submitted to the Orange County Register on 3 October 2005:

Writing about teacher tenure, Chris Dornbush asks, “what other professionals go through this eggshell period each time they move or want a better opportunity?” He’s actually complaining that he has to wait five long years before he magically secures lifetime employment, seemingly revocable only in the case of a criminal conviction.

I’ve got news for everyone who’s never held a non-government job: everyone goes through that eggshell period, and the eggshell period never ends. It starts with an interview where you have to convince someone that you’re the best choice for the job, but it doesn’t end there – you have to continue convincing them, year after year, that you’re still the best choice, or you might get replaced. It might seem harsh if you’ve never experienced it, but this mechanism of competition is exactly what has made America the economic dynamo that it is – and its addition would improve the quality of our schools like no other measure can.