[Jiggly]

The older I am the less I see that as a downside. I used to tutor and do school projects for others and it became increasingly apparent that academic system just doesn't cut it for the real world. Students are expected to the things in a certain way and creative solutions are usually frowned upon. I don't say that's the case for every school/uni just ones I had a contact with (which are mainly in Europe). I just think that people who learned their craft on real-life projects tend to have a better grasp at the subject, then the ones who aced them in school.

Well said.

I found school to be extremely boring, hence I left via my own volition and have never looked back.

Exactly, what's even better is that, in IT at least, you can land a job without the education requirement if you have experience/knowlage to back it up. And with the advent of github that is not so hard to prove to employers.

I agree with what you've said. The problem with a lot of schooling is the ability to ensure it's "fair" and to regulate it. Both come at the cost of potential quality of education as educators have to adhere to standardisations, which limits their ability to tailor educational needs. However, I went to school in Europe and was lucky. A good portion of my schooling (not all) favoured the "hands on" approach wherever possible, critical thinking, creative solutions and real-world application. My teachers who were good at this are the ones whose teachings have stayed with me - I can pretty much pinpoint my life successes to things they taught me xD