More Thoughts About Tenured Professors

 

Actually, academia brought the problem on themselves when they decided that professors must hold a doctoral degree in order to remain on the faculty. Those with masters degrees, who could not complete work on a doctoral degree before a specified deadline, had to leave. That left only those with doctoral degrees to both teach and do research.

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As a case in point, one of my political science professors had only a masters degree, but he was the best teacher I had during my college years. I ran into him at another college one summer evening. He said he was taking courses towards his doctorate. He never received it. Why? Because he fell in love and got married, then became a father, then bought a house. In short, his priorities changed, as well they do at that point in life. When the deadline passed without his completing his terminal degree, he had to leave teaching. Believe me when I say the study of political science suffered greatly with his departure.

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As mentioned in my previous blog, research pays ninety percent of professors’ salaries. That is compounded by the “publish or perish” demands placed on professors. Professors must have original research if they are to be published in academic journals. This isn’t one-time original research; it is ongoing original research. Can you imagine how stiff the competition must be?

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I once edited for an ophthalmology journal. The articles were either about new procedures or identifying and correcting the problems associated with yesterday’s new procedures. For example, an article I read (but did not edit) compared the three top intraocular lenses (IOLs) that were being implanted during cataract surgery in order to determine which one had the fewest complications, especially posterior capsular opacification (PCO). I was interested in this, because I had experienced PCO following my own cataract surgery. It turned out that the type lens I had received reported by far the fewest incidences of PCO. Clearly, better IOLs were needed; hopefully, they have come out since I received mine fourteen years ago.

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Between the requirement that professors hold doctoral degrees and the demand that they publish regular articles related to their original research, professors are left with very little time to devote to their students. Again, the Oxbridge system, wherein researchers and teachers exist in different realms, would help to bridge the gap. Hopefully, schools on this side of the pond will make a move in that direction before our educational system takes much more of a beating.

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