But the elite institutions will still be faced with the problem of how to cover the cost of teaching undergraduates.

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In recent years, a number of fields have begun to wrestle with this problem, but none with such profound social consequences as the profession of teaching.

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Just one more day figuring out a problem at the keyboard or under the ventilating hood, making another set of sales calls, teaching another roomful of people about the latest software upgrades.

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She said the loss of teaching jobs would have a "major impact on small group tuition, problem-based learning and on the pastoral care of students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds who often need extra support".

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Beyond pointing his finger at the problem, though, Mr Sanchez has not said much about how to realise his goal of teaching all children to read and do basic maths by the time they are eight.

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Brazil compounds the problem by training teachers in neither subject matter nor teaching skills (they learn about the philosophy of education instead).

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With virtually no state schools providing adequate teaching in science or maths, he says, the country has added to its vast problem of unemployment (every other 18-24-year-old is out of work) a no less vast problem of unemployability.

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