The idea, assumed throughout this story, that PhDs are wasted if they don't go into teaching is a very strange idea. It made sense in monasteries, whence school

The idea, assumed throughout this story, that PhDs are wasted if they don't go into teaching is a very strange idea. It made sense in monasteries, whence schools took many ideas, but it shouldn't be the goal of modern universities. Rather, you should consider PhDs that end up teaching as the overhead of the educational system, and the ones that go into industry or research labs as the valuable output.