If english wasn't a certain top 4 subject, I still don't think people would neglect it completely as it still a requirement for so many uni courses, so that would act as the predominant motivator to study instead of knowing it has to be in the top 4. If students were seen to be neglecting english, uni's could always just raise their minimum english prerequisites. I can't believe how many people say to me "Oh, english has to be in the top 4, otherwise people will bludge, get a 30 and not be able to speak conversational english or write enough to fill a birthday card", which is just bullshit.
@hard, Can you really say the system would treat english as just another subject if its top 4 status was revoked, surely through it being compulsory and a nearly universal uni requirement it still has enough importance to avoid being treated as another subject. And as for the super nerd behind the desk, surely he would still understand himself, but him lacking the communication skills required to express himself effectively is not something that can be attributed to a poor performnce in VCE english.
I completely understand why english is compulsory, but I still have no idea why it has to be in the top 4.
@doboman, Yes, I do understand how the ranking process works, and I know there is no way changing things would double my enter (I would still get dominated by the SUPER maths-science-illiterate students), I was exaggerating, but thanks anyway for pointing out the change would not be so great.