Quote from golinux's last reply: "You assume that a teacher is
necessary. But anyone who wants to learn WILL learn if they are
motivated. There are geeks who have even skipped college and made a
go of it. If you're in the 'system', the quality of teachers is
always a crapshoot these days and the adventure will put you in the
poorhouse in the process . . ."

In an ideal world this is true but in the real world, where making
money is a necessity, getting knowledge and expertise in this way, is
absolutely a waste of time. Try getting a good job with a reputable
company to see for yourself if you are not convinced. Not even on this
mailing list, what you said holds true, as the list is filled to the
brim with elites, who exclude anyone they feel does not fall into
their category.

Certificates and I also dare say, EXPENSIVE colleges and universities
matter a lot. Just see for yourself who is employed with companies
like Google. With what you (golinux) said, one only gets employed with
a small business, one is paid peanuts for work that otherwise would be
paid far better. The reason is getting knowledge without formal proof
cannot be proven unless one submits oneself to rigorous examinations
to get certification. However, which educational institution is going
to do away with offering examinations without actually requiring its
students to attend courses? Courses are a very good source of revenue,
implying, offering examinations and hence certification without them,
does not make sense commercially.

Everything revolves around money. If a family from the bottom social
stratum has a high ability child, the chances that child gets
certification from the most reputable universities, is next to nil.
Furthermore, and this happened to me, if one, for some reason, has to
change carrier, obviously, after seeking certification, one would be
unable to do so for lacking the financial means.

--
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
(Albert Einstein)
If you cannot make abstructions about details you do not understand
the concepts underlying them.