With so many articles about how college teacher training programs are not cutting it and how new teachers barely scratch the surface in being able to manage a classroom effectively within the first years of teaching, it's astonishing to read in your editorial "Not No. 1 in reform" (Dec. 22) that Maryland teachers can be tenured, that is guaranteed a permanent job, after only two years.

I cannot think of any profession where a person would be considered knowledgeable and experienced enough after only two years to be guaranteed permanency. Any apprenticeship profession such as plumber, electrician, or cosmetologist requires several years of training before a person can sit for a licensing exam. With all the lip-service paid to the importance of teachers in molding our youth and the country's future, it seems flagrantly irresponsible to endow someone with so much trust and power after only two years on the job.Charles M. Kone, Baltimore