> It's been a long time, but my memory of arriving at UVa for grad school was
> that the products of less prestigious colleges treated the faculty with
> deference, calling them "Professor" and "Doctor," while the products of more
> prestigious colleges treated the faculty as equals or less, preferring first
> names to their faces and disparaging nicknames at other times. But that was
> 30 years ago.
I'm not sure I share your assumptions here. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to claim some correlation between deferential approaches to academic authority and an embrace of the higher education for its own sake, rather than as a vocational meal ticket. Frankly, I don't see it. Don't the most vocational corners of academia - business, computer sciences, engineering, law - often encourage less regard for academic traditions? Or was that just my experience?
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."