This resonates with me and identifies my disdain for formal education. Everything I know, actually know, I've learned through self-education and working from first principles. I find it helpful to circle back and approach it through formal education to ensure I didn't miss anything and if I did, I repeat the self-education approach for that item. The upshot is I know what I know very well, but the downside is it can take me a lot longer than most to learn it.

I've often wondered whether there's a "happy medium" that would allow me to learn faster, but I haven't found it after decades of searching.