I've been getting e-mails from family and friends to tell me to stop the anti-academic diatribes. I can't help it! The fodder keeps on coming. I really want to change the subject, but I can't.

Wendy just sent me a link to a blog post about Andrew Hacker's new book, Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids—and What We Can Do About It. Jennie Rothenberg Gritz writes:

Andrew Hacker, who is professor emeritus at Queens College in
New York, recalls the day a young political scientist walked into his
department to interview for a job. Everything about the man's resume
made him an ideal candidate. He was finishing his dissertation at a top
university. His mentors had written effusive recommendations. But when
the young superstar sat down with the department chair, he seemed to
have only one goal: to land a tenure-track position that involved
as many sabbaticals and as little teaching as possible. He was not
invited back for a second interview. 

She follows up with a great interview with Hacker.