Tenure in a Nutshell

By Megan McArdle
Imagine a setting where you care about performance (e.g. a professional football team, or a currency trader). You wouldn't think of granting tenure. So why do it in academics?

~ Steven Levitt
"Lifetime drycleaning"?  "Permanent tax advisor"?  When an academic starts pushing the tenure model for anywhere outside academia, I will find their defense of its use in academia more convincing.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/07/tenure-in-a-nutshell/60453/