No tenure???

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education has an interesting new report: Measuring Up 2004: The National Report Card on Higher Education. Their analysis concludes bleakly that

There have been real but modest gains in rates of associate and baccalaureate degree completion, but participation in college and completion of degrees remain among the weakest aspects of performance. In addition, far too many students still do not graduate from high school on time or at all. Without a high school diploma, most of these young people will face sadly diminished prospects of getting additional training or of ever finding employment that will support a middle-class standard of living. Communities and the nation lose as well, for having a pool of educated workers is the greatest asset in today's knowledge-based global economy.

Pervasively dismal grades in affordability show that for most American families college is less affordable now than it was a decade ago. The rising cost of attending college has outpaced the growth in family income. Although financial aid has increased, it has not kept pace with the cost of attendance. Every state should reexamine college tuition and financial aid policies, and each should formally link future tuition increases to gains in family income. In the meantime, the conclusion from Measuring Up 2004 is clear: The vast majority of states have failed to keep college affordable for most families.

I feel that tuition is going up too fast, but what's the solution? I can't say how to make people finish high school. As for holding down tuition, John M. McCardell Jr., president emeritus of Middlebury College, wrote that tenure is an outmoded concept:

tenure is a great solution to the problems of the 1940's, when the faculty was mostly male and academic freedom was at genuine risk. Why must institutions make a judgment that has lifetime consequences after a mere six or seven years? Publication may take longer in some fields than in others, and familial obligations frequently interrupt careers. Why not a system of contracts of varying length, including lifetime for the most valuable colleagues, that acknowledges the realities of academic life in the 21st century?

Moreover, when most tenure documents were originally adopted, faculty members had little protection. Today, almost every negative tenure decision is appealed. Appeals not upheld internally are taken to court. Few if any of these appeals have as their basis a denial of academic freedom.

I've got to say if I hadn't had the prize of tenure, I wouldn't have spent all that time and money getting a PhD.