I'm sorry that that was your experience even in the 60s, Alan, but I have heard what it was like. I started graduate school in the late 80s and there were vestiges of that then, the sense that we suffered in learning this material and therefore you must suffer too. I think that some of my graduate professors also considered graduate school like military boot camp, and their job was to tear us down and build us back as "real scholars." It could be pretty unpleasant.

I'm happy to say that there's no trace of that in my department, and very little if any in my university. We're a public liberal arts undergraduate institution and teaching is our primary job. We're evaluated in every class by every student, or at least by all who choose to participate. We've all won teaching awards and are generally well regarded. I'll claim to be the worst of the bunch of us, only because I think my colleagues are so good.

There are always some "poor fits" between students and professors, but I and my colleagues try to learn even from those how we might improve. It's just a very different pedagogical world from the late 60s, in every way.

Thanks for reading and responding, my friend.