Lots of people who traditionlly have considered careers as professors aren’t doing so today, according to a new book, The American Faculty, by Jack Schuster and Martin Finkelstein: “Declines have occurred in the percentage of Rhodes Scholars, Luce Scholars, Watson Fellows, Phi Beta Kappa members, and entering college students over all who aspire to a career in teaching.” Even so: “Surveys of graduate programs and hiring committees indicate a very high quality of applicant (and plenty of them, in some cases a clearly overflowing pool).” I haven’t studied these paradoxical findings in detail, but are “surveys of graduate programs and hiring committees” the best source of objective information? Or would the people responding to these surveys have an incentive to say they’re doing just fine? A news summary on the book is available here.