At a liberal arts school, I have to take as many credits outside my major as I do inside.
I would counter that at a liberal arts school, you are more likely to get great professors. I think a big part of the decline in higher education is that the preeminent universities have become primarily research institutions -- hopefully less of a problem at a small, artsy school.
That's probably true. I was just thinking about this during my shower this morning. Larger schools seem to be all about partying and a large classroom consisting of at least 100 students isn't unheard of. The largest class size I've ever had was about 60, and that was broken up in half during the labs. Maybe with what you were talking about here is only applicable at a larger school?
It just depends entirely on situation, I think. Yeah, that's far more applicable to large schools (I had two lectures this spring that maxed at 475 -- disillusioning). But I can't help but wonder if higher education at small liberal arts schools is also a bit anachronistic (the old what can you do with a philosophy degree stereotype). A lot (though not yours) of liberal arts degrees come down to reading and writing about a subject. I wouldn't want to look at my $150000 bill at the end of four years and think, I paid them to tell me what to read. Obviously that's a generalization and many of lil's points hold much truer at small schools -- which possibly outweighs the "why am I getting a degree in this" factor.