As you mention "Teach well enough to get paid" is the secret mantra of many professors in academia today. Most of my coworkers treat teaching as an annoying secondary to their research work. It's not that they're nefarious people but the system is structured that way. You need to: develop a research program, mentor graduate students, chase grants, disseminate work at conferences, have some role administrating a department... and by the way teach possibly 100s of students in topics they don't necessarily enjoy. It feels like a challenging situation for all involved. Thanks for the work bringing attention to the history of how we got here!
As you mention "Teach well enough to get paid" is the secret mantra of many professors in academia today. Most of my coworkers treat teaching as an annoying secondary to their research work. It's not that they're nefarious people but the system is structured that way. You need to: develop a research program, mentor graduate students, chase grants, disseminate work at conferences, have some role administrating a department... and by the way teach possibly 100s of students in topics they don't necessarily enjoy. It feels like a challenging situation for all involved. Thanks for the work bringing attention to the history of how we got here!
Very interesting overview of the history of the university.
Sounds very similar to other issues with large prime government contractors…