The Art of Teaching

I have been really blessed to have had great professors during my undergraduate and graduate level course work, as well as patient and knowledgeable mentors who are scientists and engineers at my work.  Those who really care about education for its own sake, and the quality of work they are associated with, as well as the ethics and manner in which they conduct their business.   I realize this more and more through my limited interactions with younger generation of faculty, which I am afraid to say saddens and often disappoints me.

I have interacted with young faculty who view publication's worth as a line that gets added to their CVs or online bibliographies regardless of its content and correctness of claims they make there.  I have come across those who are hesitant to use already prepared high quality educational material in classes they already are supposed to teach anyways unless they get funding for it.  I have seen faculty submitting identical papers simultaneously to two or more venues, putting my name and submitting papers without my knowledge of the existence of the paper, let alone approving its content.
Overall, I see young faculty viewing themselves as business (wo)men, with educating students being the last thing on their minds. 

When I think about it, most faculty I admire and respect a lot belong to a generation of Americans who were born in mid 1950s.  There must have been something special about their generation.  Something that I do not think will be repeated.  Something that they will take a way with themselves.  I mourn the loss of such greatness already.