Making Teaching and Research Symbiotic

By Gerald Bakker

We have all heard of environmental-impact statements, descriptions that must be filed concerning the potential impact on the environment of, say, a planned land development. I would like to recommend a variant of the idea for colleges and universities: a pedagogical-impact statement. I propose that every request for research funds include a description of the impact that the research is likely to have on teaching.

I want to avoid all the polemics about whether one must be a good