I agree that the value of being at a research institution for ones education is not much for quite a number of students. I think this is where the root of the

I agree that the value of being at a research institution for ones education is not much for quite a number of students. I think this is where the root of the problems are. Society needs to appreciate good teaching outside of research institutions. Until that happens we end up having floods of students go to research institutions to get job skills training and it's a waste of resources for everyone involved. Until this happens it's generally not feasible to pay teachers next to nothing and research staff a lot on the same campus. Then all the students just complain they're not being taught by real professors and they truly will pay twice or four times as much at a different school to get taught by research-based professors. (Who often, as you point out, can't lecture for crap half the time.) Universities do some amount of work to ensure that research pays above grade and teaching only faculty get paid on a completely separate grade, but the expectations of the students generally keeps this from happening in a better way. That said, there are some students that really do benefit from learning with and participating with the top researchers in the world. Those students do need to continue to go to research institutions for their education and do benefit substantially from the research activity on a campus.