Our efforts in their behalf have their effect over time and have an afterlife. That statement is one of the tenets of the faith. It may follow from these principles that we should devote more attention, energy, and time to our teaching, but that is not the point. Our work is professional work. Our work is not judged by the time or effort it takes, only by its quality.
Teaching is one of the central elements of our professional work.
Like every other element of that work, teaching well is essential to our stature and self-esteem as professionals. No faculty member can be fully serious as a teacher or scholar in a community that itself does not take these functions seriously. Taking teaching seriously requires that the faculty as a body take collective responsibility for the education of its students. This may be a truism, but it has implications that we have not fully embraced. It is the faculty that must say what it means to be an educated person-what it means to be an educated chemist, historian, sociologist, and so on.