As with many other things, tenure was intended to prevent teachers from being victims of a local version of the political spoils system. When the school board changed due to elections, the thought was, qualified teachers ought not to lose their positions because a new school board director wanted to reward supporters with jobs for themselves or their relatives and friends. Tenure predated unions.

I have nothing against teachers' unions or tenure, but one or the other has got to go. Personally, I think that tenure has outlived its usefulness.

And thank you for the compliment. I look at teacher certification from the point of view of my own profession, which is not especially well-paid either. If I wanted to become a school media specialist (that is to say, if I could put up with the politics and restrictions on collection one encounters in schools), since I don't have my teacher cert, I would have to quit my job to get it. I've known some people who have crossed over to school from public, and the paper alone would make a tax accountant cry. One of them had to fight with one university and the State Dept of Ed to get certified in a district that wanted her desperately. It's insane.

I also know an engineer with his PE license -- in fact, I'm married to him -- who is a talented instructor, having taught for his company's training department, and for Penn State and the University of Maryland while he worked full-time as an engineer. He would like to teach public high school chemistry and physics if he takes early retirement from industry. Getting that teacher cert is going to be a pain. But he would be great. What a loss to public schools if he decides, instead, to polish his golf game and pick up a couple teaching gigs at the colleges.