Teaching Matters: Reconsidering Our Responsibilities

Abstract

For better or worse, social and legislative pressures are forcing universities to reexamine their current tendency to privilege reseach as the almost exclusive measure of productivity. Departments, 50-70 year old sites of remarkable productivity, are now becoming blocks to needed flexibility in examining faculty roles and rewards. However, for teaching to be valued more, it will need to be evaluated more carefully. While universities must never become society's servants, they are civilization's supporters and as such may well find that teaching merits more attention than is currently accorded.