This is a very interesting view of what is happening in college faculty specialization these days. A comparison is made between the stratification in the health professions, where Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and RNs work as a supporting professionals/contingent workforce and are benefitted, and well-paid, and the stratification of especially contingent work in academia — which is not any of those. A consideration of administrative roles, history of the teaching profession, and the possibility of a designated length of study for a Ph.D. are described. Well worth reading:

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Great-Stratification/143285/?cid=cc&utm_source=cc&utm_medium=en