Mwolf- I am a graduate of two universities (not LAC’s), spouse a graduate of two even BIGGER universities, all my kids went the university track and after polling them- not a single one of us had a “meaningful interaction” with a TA and ALL of us had strong and close relationships with professors. As supervisors, mentors, teachers, etc. Your post is not grounded in reality- at all. TA’s grade exams, run review sessions, set up labs. They do not mentor and they don’t supervise, and they CERTAINLY do not take the place of professors in a seminar room.
And the idea that kids at research U’s don’t have positive views of people with PhD’s- well, you just made that up out of whole cloth.
And the contact not likely to be personal and warm? Again- total fiction. One of my kids graduated from undergrad 13 years ago and still has dinner or drinks with professors when he ends up in their city for business. Different kid has regular contact with a professor who comes to town to lecture- sometimes lunch, sometimes coffee. These kids couldn’t even remember the name of a single TA…
Nice try.