T HE enormous prestige enjoyed by the Europe, contrast to the lowly status of his American colleague, is a striking characteristic of European higher education. One encounters repeated evidence of this prestige. To hold professors up to ridicule-a common practice this country-is simply unthinkable (a businessman Rome assured me, There are no eggheads Italy!). On the contrary, professors not only run their respective universities but, it is only a slight exaggeration to say, they run their countries as well. For throughout the European governments one finds professors disproportionate numbers occupying the highest positions of leadership, serving as presidents, premiers, and cabinet ministers. Nowhere does the adulation of the soar to greater heights than the German-speaking countries. In Austria, professors are not human beings, they are gods, according to an engineer I met Vienna. And an American chemist who recently completed a year's study at Tilbingen discovered that whereas our country the university serves the student, in Germany the university serves primarily the professor. A public-opinion poll conducted three years ago by a Hamburg newspaper revealed that professors rank above the members of all other learned occupations the respect accorded them by the man on the street Germany. It is significant that the past President of the West German Republic, Theodor Heuss, and the brilliant Economics Minister, Ludwig Erhardt, are professors; and perhaps it is even more significant that although both can legitimately use several impressive titles, they insist on being designated as Professor, since prestige this title considerably outranks all the others. The German is invariably addressed as Herr Professor Dr. (the doctor definitely subordinate to the professor), and his wife shares his distinction as Frau Professor. But such accolades are by no means restricted to a few countries. Wherever I traveled Europe, I discovered that the title professor earned me exceptional deference from taxi drivers, hotel functionaries, farmers, and businessmen. One encounters this abnormal respect for