it used to be prior to ww2 that college instructors were not as visible in american life. no one cared much what they did, nor interacted with them. colleges were islands.
college graduates went into business, government the military, etc. and those from "normal schools" or teaching colleges went on to teach at public schools. the latter had more interactions with the public than the former.
the post-ww2 economic boom changed that. in the 1960s a college education increasingly became a necessity, as our reliance on manufacturing lessened and our dependence on information began and steadily increased.
a college degree promoted social mobility. the degreed became consumers of various levels, some higher up on the food chain than others. successful graduates shopped at up-scale clothiers, shopped for imported autos (rebelling against their parents' cadillacs and lincolns), and shopped for organic food. it's no accident that ads for trader joe's sound like npr.
what one ate became an indicator of social class. those at the top of the food chain drank french wines and ate french cheeses.
meanwhile, colleges promoted the idea that those associated with them were better than others.
now for the mind-blowing idea--mostly democrats, college faculties promoted themselves as "for the working classes" and "for the po'".
i grew up on a dairy farm. my college friends used to come out and look at the cows and laugh at the smell of the manure. this fact dictated that i never stray too far from my origins.
Before World War II, college professors weren't visible (I guess you mean important)? Huh? Woodrow Wilson might disagree with that.
You've also confused the college educated who laugh at those of us who do real work with the faculty who work at colleges. The former are, I suspect, by and large, the children of pretty wealthy folks who're in college to get a degree to make some more money. The later are people who're interested in educating the next generation and are (relatively) modestly paid. The faculty are working pretty hard to keep bread on the table, just like a lot of other folks. They're not laughing at others who're working, too.
There is a lot of truth in what you are saying. Most college professors are still invisible. The mainstream media promote the radicals. Tenure favors the radicals. It gives them a bullet-proof career while they try to destroy America. The worst of it started during Viet Nam. The hippies of that era are often tenured professors now.
Tenure is a major problem and should be abolished.
College professors vary according to profession. A physiology professor is going to be much more conservative than the average psychiatry professor. Business professors are more conservative and saner than art history instructors.
There are many who jeer at farming but I cannot imagine a more demanding and difficult job, combining the meddling of government, the whims of nature, and the power of the major food cartels.
"now for the mind-blowing idea--mostly democrats, college faculties promoted themselves as "for the working classes" and "for the po'"
Straight up! That's a really good analysis. And most college professors really do think they are "of the people" and they are some of the most smug, insular, leftist elitists around.
P.S. Oh, and by the way, some of these smug elitists in the math and physics departments *do* treat women as members of groups rather than as individuals and don't provide equality of opportunity. Little fact. I think *that's* elitist too.