"We've made a transition where attending college is no longer a privilege and an honor; instead college is a consumer product. One of the negative aspects of this transition is that the role of a college-level teacher has been transformed into that of a service employee." -- Ouch. That's how you get rampant grade inflation and undergraduates who harrass their professors into boosting their B+ to an A-. After my first professorial stint last fall, I got into a semantic discussion with one student about the relative meanings of "meritorious" vs. "superior" work, i.e. "Suck it up, you're above average!" Sheesh.