Exactly. I was in that first year that had to go into it blind and being from a regional area our teachers didn't really have a whole lot of accessible support. From day one I was like, "Well, that's great, but explain to me again why this should be called English and not Society & Literature..."
There are some courses in the English and Linguistics Departments (at usyd at least) that can give you a bit of a grounding in more complex grammar, no prior knowledge requried. You can usually take them as electives, regardless of what degree you do. It is useful, and a certain type of person actually enjoys it...
