Where Have All the Teachers Gone?The Slow Erosion of Mentorship in Higher Education

Professor John Davidson glanced at the photo of his bright-eyed younger self, taken on the day he defended his dissertation. He remembered the intellectual sparring with his adviser, the excitement of breaking new ground in his field. He wanted one day to impart that same passion for scholarship to the next generation.

But here John sits decades later — weary, overwhelmed, disheartened. What happened?

The demands of the job have exponentially increased. Enrollment benchmarks with budgetary implications. Calls for equity and inclusion from multiple fronts. Mental health crises requiring counseling skills. And the still necessary rigors of world-class academic instruction. The days overflow with obligations, the nights with anxiety of constantly falling short.

Most concerning to John is how the role of mentorship has been slowly whittled away by these competing priorities. How can meaningful bonds emerge from the rush of nonstop meetings, rushed conferences, perfunctory email exchanges with students now treated more like consumers? Gone are the long impassioned dialogues over coffee that shaped young minds. In their place, institutes of efficiencies and outcomes producing graduates for the workforce.

And administrators call for more...more growth, more policies, more reform. But at what cost?

Has education become so business-minded that we have forgotten the souls tangled up in this great enterprise? The heaviness in professors’ hearts seeing students struggle for meaning? Or the next generation of would-be mentors and trailblazers who may no longer see a place for themselves in the academy?

Let us demand space for that which cannot be easily measured or optimized. Time for not just instruction but also humanity. For mentorship. For all members of campus communities to feel seen, safe, nurtured. This does not preclude accountability and evolution. But it may require slowing down, listening, bridging divides, and recognizing the multidimensional identities occupying those seats in our hallowed halls.

If we cannot get this right at the university, what hope have we to heal national rifts? Academia must model the discourse and care essential for progress. And honor those who devote their lives in service not to machines, but rather to insight, to values, to students barreling wide-eyed toward a tempestuous future.

Have we lost our way in this grand vision? Perhaps. But professors like John remind us there is still time to write a better future—for the academy and beyond. If only we are willing to realign priorities before the last lights of intellectual curiosity and empathy burn out. The story is still ours to tell. Will we listen to professorial whispers before the last educators lose heart and walk away? For John’s sake, for our students’ sake — I sincerely hope so.