Tenure

The American left has been shooting itself in the foot by scorning populism.

When Multiculturalism is examined, one does not see much concern for the "traditional" cultures of white Americans. This is fine when Multiculti is a lens for self-improvement but it has mutated into a hatred of "white trash." This is sad, and not what Multiculturalism is about at all.

I come neither to bury nor praise Multiculturalism. I mention it because it is a stunning leading example of the way leftists in America have lost any claim to populism.

"We are the 99%!" This is populism. And when Occupy finds its agenda it must be populist.

An easy and important target is the tenure system. Please consult this book for all the details. In a nutshell:

Replace tenure with multiyear contracts. Despite fears concerning academic freedom, higher education will lose nothing by ending tenure but will reap major gains. We conclude this reluctantly. But tenure takes a huge toll at every academic level. Professors who possess it have no reason to improve their teaching, take on introductory courses, or, in fact, accept any tasks not to their liking. Meanwhile, junior faculty members pay a brutal price by succumbing to intellectual caution. If we could achieve only one reform, that would be it.

Ending tenure sounds horrible: academic freedom! But is our professorate using its academic freedom? Where are the persecuted, protected only by tenure? They don't exist. Real threats don't get tenure, and instead we are left with a hugely distorting and counterproductive institution. Hearing that tenure is a problem then going to school is like walking out of Plato's cave. You can't not see how bad it is, and getting rid of it will help reduce college costs and improve the quality of education, in addition to creating a more humane academic environment.

As importantly, making this part of the Occupy agenda will signal a shift in the loyalties of the Left, a shift away from "academic snobbery" both real and imagined and towards the Populist desire for equality and opportunity.

We shouldn't underestimate how much good this can do for the movement.

Other links: google preview of Higher Education?, the book at Amazon, another article at the Atlantic, a publication I'm not really a fan of...