Kingsley Amis was right – more universities has meant worse dons
Even assuming a student is lucky enough to attend a university where they have individual tutorials, or where the lectures are of a high quality, how many students today truly consider it to be worth upwards of £9,000 per annum? One response to this mercenary question is that it misses the point. Of course, if all you want from your encounter with a university tutor is information, you could probably get better value from Google or Teach Yourself books. The educative experience – this is how the argument would go – is found in the encounter between a clever, eager young mind with that of one who is more mature, and better read, whose discourses can expand your mind, and whose capacity to correct, as well as to encourage, is an invaluable preparation for later life. Well, maybe. I can’t help wondering whether, if I’d had to run up nearly...
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