Reading research

Troy has a question about whether teachers need to read formal research. What's the point of all these academics doing endless research instead of actually teaching? Surely those who do, do, but those who observe don't? Which is mightier, the practionioner or the theoretician? Should teachers even bother? Steve has a lot of things to say about this, though his opinion is really flawed and completely biased anyway. Troy, in the other hand, has a whiteboard marker.