Higher Ed

I was reading an article on the Inside Higher Ed--Daily Update about the abundance of PhDs in the arts and sciences and the dearth of tenure track teaching positions. Once again, I am of two minds.
There is something about tenure that rubs against the grain. It is the permanence of the achievement that bothers me. At the community college I just left, I saw newly hired full time instructors (assistant professors? terminology may vary from institution to institution) working diligently to get noticed by longer termed faculty. The newbies would serve on various committees, offer the fresh insights, come up with ideas and follow through with same, infuse lessons with excitement, experiment with technology, and generally keep their departments moving. Personally, I always saw all the activity as partly inspired by the new opportunity and partly driven by the requirements of their tenure committees. The stark disparity between the newbies and some of the seasoned faculty was striking. Whining about committee work, oft expressed despair at students' inability to perform, entrenched philosophies, bullying, and worn lessons or the infamous newspaper-reading-while-students-work-on-their-own approach characterized at least a few of the tenured folks. Like unions, I am sure there was a good reason for tenure at one time, but I wonder if there is at least some abuse. When I read someone's complaint about not enough tenure track positions at the university level, I tend to think of what that protective bubble can produce, and the article begins to sound whiny.
On the other hand, or in my other mind, I comprehend the probems created by the ratio of full to part time faculty. Where I worked, that was 80% to 20% in both faculty and support staff. From what I have seen, that is not atypical. So a student at that community college had an 8 in 10 chance of getting an adjunct instructor after being advised by a part time counselor. The student might then check on financial aid and be helped by a thirty hour a week clerk who depends and a woman in accounting, a man in IT, and a registration clerk who are all part time. Once the student gets into the semester and needs help, she will get tutoring from a math specialist and do research with a library aide who are also limited in weekly hours. There is no such thing as prorated benefits for the adjuncts and only leave accrues for the part time employees. Of course there are wonderfully motivated people in all of the positions mentioned, but the chance of burn out, leading to poor performance and high turn over, has to be omnipresent. So the system is definitely broken. I'm just not convinced more of the same, more tenure track positions, would be the cure.