Tenure is intended to protect teachers IN classrooms from administrators who've never set foot in one. Administrators love to 'implement' new ideas. Even if what has been happening isn't broken, they like to do this. Teachers who won't go along with every crazy notion are labeled "uncooperative" by such administrators when they continue doing things the way that they KNOW in their hearts is right and good for students.
Trust me on this one-- I've been that teacher (yes, post-secondary, but my mom was that teacher in elementary). Administrators are frequently out of touch with reality to a fairly stunning degree. In their desperation to do "something" to "improve" things, they'll try pretty much anything; but seldom long enough for it to make a real difference either way.
Out of touch administration is certainly not unique to the profession of teaching. In fact, I'd say it borders on being ubiquitous, yet no other industry comes to mind in which the ability of an administrator to fire a subordinate proves to be so problematic. You seem concerned that the wrong teachers would lose their jobs, while I'm concerned that hopefully many of the right teachers (finally) would.
So what makes teaching (without research) so different?
