This thread is really diverging but ...

You have to admit that you have found many instructors that either 
focused on teaching or did an excellent job teaching while also 
contributing heavily to research.  However, some people suck at teaching 
regardless of whether or not they participate in research.

I am not sure I understand your comment about private research.  If you 
mean a public university should not be doing research it should only be 
teaching, then I think you terribly mistaken (as far as ASU is 
concerned, ask the president what the universities mission is).  If you 
specified private to mean non public, then you don't understand who 
funds the research.  I think it is safe to say that 80% of the research 
(at least at ASU) comes from the Federal Government (DOE, NSF, DOD, etc).

I can't believe that receiving external funding leads to a rise in 
costs.  ASU takes 50% of much of what gets spent from a federally funded 
grant.  If anything in this state has contributed to a rise in education 
costs (instate tuition was just raise 40% ... forty!!!!) I would point 
my finger at the state's budget situation (I won't begin speculating here).

There are many problems in university education, but research as a whole 
is not one of them.  I am not saying that there are not individual cases 
where say a professor doesn't care about his classes and only wories 
about his research.  That does happen.  But people do a bad job at their 
jobs for other reasons too.

Austin


Tom Achtenberg wrote:
> You point out one of the biggest problems in the university education system today.  Each professor having his/her own fiefdom.  A public university should be orientated towards teaching students not doing private research.  Unfortunately this is not the case and is a big actor in the decline in education and the rise in costs.  I have 2 degrees and over 250 credits so I've been around the system a bit.
>