Yeah, I've got to say, I went to a university that was still finding it's feet - it was early days, and the lecturers were keen to help their students into work and prove the worth of their courses. I found full time work in a competitive field while still studying university full time (and putting those two together wasn't easy, let me tell you).

I can't envision getting the level of attention and assistance I received in a larger class. I've since learned that the course I was in is booming and has much larger class sizes.

Sigh.

And skeptic... okay, so there may not be research, but I would argue that more students clearly = less attention for the individual. It is all well and good to be skeptical, but are you agreeing or disagreeing with the thrust of the article?

Oh dear.

Harry, I have had only a few years less than you in higher education, and in the US and the UK as well as Australia. Most of what you say is hyperbolic rubbish. If we put more money into the universities we would have smaller classes. Schools and universities cannot undo bad parenting or nil parenting. They can only deal with what they get. It's a miracle, really, that so many good people come out at the end. Given the veil of ignorance (you don't know who your parents are going to be, etc) would you rather be 21 now or in 1950? Only 2 per cent were going to university in 1950, and the odds are 50 to 1 that you wouldn't have been one of them. The last fifty years have been extraordinaryily good for the great majority, and education has been one of the principal causes. Stop bucketing it, for goodness' sake.

Our education system makes no sense. Quality primary and secondary education for all should be a priority and universities should be unashamedly elitist, from an academic point of view. Scholarships should be available to level the playing field for students who need financial help. As far as I can see many degrees today are of no value as they do not indicated either a high level of ability or achievement. Having met recent teaching graduates you can see the problem clearly - they will tell of ridiculously long assignments and 'research' projects which they were told were not going to be read or marked, but which were course requirements. I cannot see what the benefit of mass tertiary education is, if it is of such poor quality. It is a huge waste of money and puts so many young people heavily into debt. I wonder if any have considered suing for having to pay for a rubbish product?

I'm not an American basher, in fact I've rarely met an American I didn't like. But unfortunately it seems we're going down their educational route: public high school education that is so poor students need a university education just to reach employable levels of literacy. Paying more and more for this education also has the neat effect of creating a billion dollar market, which will be pushed relentlessly and further expanded by 'corporatised' universities.

It's sad that our eductional elite always look to America rather than education systems in Europe and Asia which produce better results for the majority of their population.

As an adherent of general conspiracy theory held by J. M. Keynes and outlined in the closing pages of his book General Theory..., I observe that it is very much in tne favour of private elites that there be mass education so that the same elites refine their methods of power while 99.50 per cent of students believe that power only exists as relatively distributed between the Coalition and the A.L.P. Having spent five years studying political science, history and sociology at one of Australia's best universities, I saw how shallow the teaching was in these areas at the expense of contemporary society's own self knowledge, while the first priority of the men and women in suits - the servants of this nation's private elites - was indeed to stack subject units with 500 to 1000 students and most departmental and faculty offices were at least half-staffed by graduates unable to obtain a placement elsewhere. The most important notion which needs to obtain traction in this country is the general fore-knowledge that the best form of education is the institution of the State Library which has the capability of carrying the self-taught into every realm of learning without the heartbreak of essay deadlines or the temptations of junkfood that most campuses seem to regard as obligatory to student life. After all, in the university situation, what happened to the 'brown paper bag' lunches whence lecturers used to discuss the ramifications of the material espoused in the lecture halls with students on university lawns? In the ignorant generality of contemporary Australian life, both tertiary staff and students have turned into foodie foodies rather than constructive/decontructive thought foodies and university has become an ego trip without real professions at courses ends.

Dear Harry, you can buy and sell me so far as intellect and academic distinction are concerned, but you are missing an important issue. The answer to the problems that beset our sorry world is education. I certainly agree that there is an intellectual elite which should be encouraged to highest endeavour. But below the top 10% of superb intellects are the next 50-70% of ordinary citizens who could profit from higher education. Exposure to literature, languages, theologies, societies, economies, pedagogies, etc, with encouragement to think critically about these are desperately required. I have 4 uni degrees, taught for 17 years at what you would regard as a "second-rung" institution and then 8 years at what you would have to concede is Australia's best, and I still yearn for more wisdom. Okay, let us keep the sharp edge, but let us also give the majority of us a chance to sharpen our wits.