BobLee Swagger, the Southern humorist and blogger, has a post up today on academia, making fun of the "academic mill town" of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. But, as a recovering academic myself, I was struck by the popignancy of this observation:

The occupation of 'college professor' carried prestige as recently as 20 years ago. Today the likely response is 'so Ringling Brothers had filled their quota of clowns, huh?'  Those legitimately drawn to the once noble profession of 'teaching' can thank the bloviating radicals who have hijacked the term.  When 'helping young people learn how to think' became 'telling them what to think'. The leftward shift of learning lost its luster.

The truth behind this paragraph breaks my heart. The left has robbed us of a lot.

Thomas Lifson   12 16 04