Do I need to go to school

One of life's greatest questions for a 12 year old but somehow as old as I am(university level) I find myself also asking this question. Does one really need to go to school and do we really need all that book knowledge in order to strike gold. The story of John Nash really got me thinking that maybe going to school disables us from coming up with our own original ideas as he called them. As pople transition from school to industry most people realise that half the things they studied in school don't come up when they start formal work and for those who find themselves running their own businesses often street education and people skills are more important than book education. Does true talent and entrepreneurship shine even where there is no formal education.

I have found that some of the most wealthiest people and some of the greatest minds such as Einstein belonged to people who were counted out at school and sometimes even dropped out of college (we all know the Facebook story) anyway that's what brings us back to this dilemma because we see in society some people who have not conformed to the education system but still made it laughing at the end, or maybe they were just lucky.

Whilst analyzing this I came across a young lady on YouTube ( MOAM network) who was talking about her story and how she had to teach herself how to do programming and web design and then it struck me that these people actually learn and develop themselves. Just because they did not go to a prestigious college to study does not necessarily mean that they did not take the time to educate themselves, maybe even more than most people in the classroom.

And so as one advertisement put it you don't have to go to uni to go to uni. We live in an age where information is very abundant and so no you don't really have to go to school to get an education but at the same time if you neglect to educate yourself you might find yourself getting educated the hard way in the school of life.