[firefoxman1]

Agreed. Self-education is just so much more scalable because a self-educator doesn't need a teacher or assignments to learn. All one needs is a book or access to a knowledge on a subject. The Internet has connected us to more knowledge one every subject imaginable than previous generations could have dreamed, and yet most of my friends still take classes on something that can be picked up with a few tutorials and a well-written book. It's a lot of extra money down the drain that could be spent other, wiser ways.

[pnathan]

Baloney.

Stuff worth knowing in academia takes dedicated effort and access to deep resources that are unavailable on the internet.

Even knowing what book to read can be a significant challenge.

Just cause you can read some tutorials, watch a MIT lecture, and write PHP/jQuery does not a computer scientist or a mathematician make.

[lukejduncan]

Taking a class and getting a piece of paper also does not a computer scientist make.

[pnathan]

maroons happen everywhere.

But I guarantee you only the most amazing and celebrated of individuals have self-taught themselves advanced mathematics and performed at the highest level of the art. The only one I can think of the modern era is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan, who is essentially legendary for what he did.

The core issue is climbing the tower of knowledge of what has gone before requires deep investment and usually a guide until you attain a deep and broad knowledge. There is so much knowledge, we must leech off of the knowledge of those who have also done the studying and have more experience. It's a pain.

[firefoxman1]

You are right about the more advanced subjects. I guess, speaking from a college freshman's point of view, I disagree with friends taking courses on subjects that can be easily learned from a book or tutorial. I think it's important to take classes in subjects that can't be easily learned through self-teaching.

PHP or jQuery can be easily learned from books and tutorials, while being a great programmer takes much more practice and knowledge of algorithms, data structures, and probably a classic computer science background. So majoring in computer science would be a wise choice, while a jQuery class is unnecessary unless it's required for the major.