In my experience, it's the professors who operate on the Richard Feynman model who are the most successful. While there are lots of professors who are of the mind that teaching and researching are antithetical, I had a few who were just PHENOMENAL, passionate lecturers who say teaching and the future of research as going hand in hand. And it's not so much the material they conveyed; it was the passion for the subject. To me, that's where all of the brilliant students go, to the professors who convince them, through their passion and excitement for the next generation, to take up a particular field of study. In that regard, I think the system can on some level work itself out. Programs with little regard for the next generation simply burn out and attract fewer acolytes. When I look back on my education, as well as what I got out of college, it's totally the handful of passionate professors who shaped me and influenced my future.