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I teach at a small college. One of the things that prospective
students
(and parents) want to know is whether the courses will be taught by
real
"whatever." Will the chemistry courses be taught by "real chemists."
Will the history classes be taught by "real historians." In this
context I think "real" means that the person has done and/or is doing
physics research as opposed to physics education research. Said
another
way, are the courses going to be taught by "practicing physicists"
where
practicing means doing actual physics or having done/published actual
physics (not physics education).
A large state university obviously would have practicing physicists,
but
a small college might not. A small college is going to have a terrible
time recruiting physics majors if the prospective students and parents
cannot be convinced that the program is run by "real physicists."
It doesn't matter whether it is physics, math, English, history...
recruiting and holding top-notch faculty is difficult for a small
college. But that is what we must to do, because our survival depends
on it. Hence, we are not going to tenure faculty who don't have a
terminal degree in the field they are hired to profess (i.e. model) to
the students.