"why should anyone keep their job just because they are older, make more money, and are PROBABLY less efficient than (that was a teacher correcting your spelling by the way just now) the younger worker"........
Why is the presumption that older = less efficient?
In that case lower the minimum age for being a president.
How about all corporate CEO's over 40 getting the can to save some money?
Tenure's purpose isn't to protect the bad teachers....it is to protect the rights of all teachers, especially the veteran teachers. Can you imagine giving your whole life to a district, then when financial times get bad they fire you to save money and keep younger, less experienced teachers? Administrator's recommend teachers for tenure, then the boards of education grant it or not. Let's put more pressure on those structures to supervise and support rather than just pass along. If there are so many "bad" teachers with tenure, who recommended them? Hold your board of education accountable and the administration that is obligated to properly supervise. Don't blame the teacher's unions for poor teachers receiving tenure.
Schools are not failing because of unions. Schools are failing because communities now expect schools to do more every day. Teachers must now play the part of parents that have no interest in raising their children anymore. Go to any suburban district and watch how many nannies are dropping off and picking up the students, spending time with them doing homework, feeding them dinner and then tucking them in, all so wealthy parents can continue to make a lot of money to take a lot of vacations, buy houses, clothing, nice cars, and blame teachers for their taxes being so high. Go to any inner city school and see how many kids don't get 3 balanced meals, don't have anybody at their home (if they have a home) to help with homework, wear the same clothing for many days in a row. Communities should put as much pressure on their own members to do a better job of actually raising their children and taking an active role in their child's education instead of complaining about how easy teachers have it with their "summers off" and short days......too much pay.....guaranteed pensions (or more accurately, money we have deferred).....health care (and boy do we need it when you continually send your kids to school with viruses, colds, etc. and "can't take a sick day to stay home with Bobby because my job is very important (translated = Bobby is not as important as my job)......