WHEN Mr Bryant was headmaster at Bendigo High School, the English compulsory component of matriculation (year 12) had within it a segment called "clear thinking".
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One of the elements was "fallacies of argument", in which was listed "arguments from authority"; that is, where we are expected to accept an argument purely because of the standing of its proponent.
This applies to the recent failed government legislation on universities, whereby the only claim Education MInister Christopher Pyne could make was that "the vice-chancellors supported it".
Claims by the vice-chancellor of Adelaide University, Professor Warren Bebbington, that the group of seven top universities will be most affected by this do not stand up to rigorous thought.
If the status quo was bad and needed changing then they would not be the leading institutions.
It follows that the purpose of the legislation was to increase the universities' status as elite educators.
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