Nerd, I trust your (again) lucid post isn't a description of some of the best things about higher education?

I teach community ed classes p.t. geared to high school students on post sec options, including some writing classes for college application essays.   

It hasn't been that long since I was in college myself. My best classes were with professors and lecturers, tenured and non, who were open and honest about their beliefs--and not just their political beliefs. There was also no shortage of professors and lecturers who were dishonest about them, for whatever reasons, and those who were oddly silent. So my experience in the mid-90s was one where the openness/secretiveness about people's belief was no different than it is in any workplace. There is a widespread belief amongst teachers and professors, I think, that students will do anything for an A, but that was never my experience as a student either. There were plenty of students whose main interest was in getting their money's worth out of their education, considering the cost of tuition these days.

Obviously, people's mileage varies in this regard.