Skoble argues categorically and plainly against critics that say "tenure protects incompetent professors": "My argument is that when this happens, it is a malfunction of the system, not an intrinsic feature of its proper use. The way it is supposed to work is that incompetent professors do not get tenure in the first place. The rebuttal is 'but they do, therefore tenure is a bad idea.' But that is like arguing that because you ran a red light and caused a train wreck, driving is a bad idea."Aeon J. Skoble, "Tenure: The Good Outweighs the Bad -- A Surresponse to James E. Bruce," in Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 209.
