It's not easy or cheap to put students first 2

Your article on student-centred learning is a familiar rerun of the arguments around free verse, free jazz or free anything else that challenges the perception held by Stanley Fish, author of Save the World in Your Own Time and student-centred learning critic, that wisdom is what he says it is. No doubt by giving far too much attention to the wishes of the electorate, democracies, too, result in falling standards. Oh for the days when we reached our full potential by struggling to meet the standards set by a resident dictator.

The reality, as usual, is different. Ezra Pound said: "No vers is libre for the man who wants to do a good job." Ask anyone, academic or student alike, involved in the case method if you want to know just how rigorous and demanding of intellect and time student-centred learning is when at its best.

Richard McCracken, Director, European Case Clearing House.