Teachers are some of the most undervalued workers in the workforce. Their hard work often goes unnoticed by others. There are many reasons why society tends to criticize teachers more than other professions. The first is that the number of unqualified teachers exceeds the number of qualified teachers, which in return creates a bad reputation among teachers in general. Only one in 1000 teachers is fired for poor performance. Compared to the one in fifty-seven doctors who lose their medical license and job due to poor performance, that number is outrageous. Why aren't teachers fired? Most teachers are tenured. Tenure is a contract that guarantees teachers a job after a certain period of time spent at a school. It makes it nearly impossible to fire tenured teachers. The question of whether the mandate is consistent has been hotly debated by many in the education system. The mandate is unethical and actions should be taken to improve it. Tenure should be reformed because incompetent tenured teachers are protected, the process of dismissing tenured teachers is unnecessarily laborious, and students do not receive benefits. Permanent teachers are protected in all circumstances, even in the event of poor performance. According to education activist Geoffrey Canada, the role is to judge teachers based on how long they have been in school rather than their ability to teach, which is illogical. During tenure, a teacher could stop teaching content entirely and would not be fired due to seniority. This is not fair because students do not gain knowledge. Tenured people argue that this is fine because the teacher has held the position for so long. In reality, this is not acceptable because it seriously harms stu...... middle of paper ......d with teachers who would ensure that students are learning. Due to the protection of ineffective teachers, costly dismissal process and to the detriment of students, tenure should be reformed. Teachers who do a poor job of teaching don't get fired, causing students to fail. Teachers don't get fired because of the difficult process and this in turn pushes the boundaries of what teachers can get away with. This program is for the benefit of teachers only; students were not considered. Students may fail later in life due to ineffective teachers. What needs to happen to fix this problem is tenure reform. Tenure should be granted by reviewing the teacher's test scores and monitoring test scores after tenure is granted. It's the best way to ensure that America's youth are well educated and on the path to successful lives.