<p>Well presumably you would need to have a strong knowledge of the discipline to supervise those teaching it at the college level, so there is that. Someone without the academic background to recognize instructional malpractice in a given area wouldn’t be very useful as a supervisor. Unfortunately the vast majority of college consumers (I won’t call them students) do not care; they are, for the most part, cargo cultists re education and only want the credential so that they can get a job. I believe the great privates will remain safe and will always have real professors. I fear for our public universities. I do not believe the politicians or the electorate will want to support them as centers of intellectual inquiry and higher learning. There will be relentless pressure to turn our great public institutions into subsidized versions of the University of Phoenix.</p>
<p>Someone is very cranky tonight because she received an awful batch of diagnostic essays and foresees a long semester ahead:)</p>