A very good summary. I think it's important to factor in the comment from someone else around here that distinguishes between a degree and a university education. I think there's a market for a three-year back-to-basics course where you are doing rigorous self-study and small-group tutorials intensively for the whole time. Possibly Oxford and Cambridge still do that to some extent? Certainly it addresses all five of your points, including the one about propaganda (too much free time).