The only reason I'm a little bitter about the education system
   is that I would've excelled at it. By nature, I'm an academic. I
   should be holed up in the library stacks working on my 7th
   Doctorate by now. But then again: I've been online since 1989
   and have 26 years straight of engaging with people from around
   the world and comparing their opinions with mine and adjusting
   as needed. [I mean, I worked and slept and ate and pooped a
   little inbetween too] I don't harbor resentment against people
   who *are able* to go through academia. I think it's marvelous!
   I'd have loved it. But you really have to have all your ducks
   lined in a row for it to happen properly. Your financial ducks.
   Your life situation ducks. Parental income, age, gender, race,
   credit worthiness... THESE are the things that get people into
   higher education and keep some people out of higher education. I
   don't care for myself. I excelled through the Internet. But
   there's forgotten geniuses out there - people WAY smarter than
   me... who never stood a chance. They could be curing cancer in a
   University lab but they had an unsupportive family, or shitty
   guidance counsellors, or a bad girlfriend or boyfriend that held
   them back. and yes, it looks like a logically contradicted
   myself. "the only reason is for myself" and "I don't care for
   myself" seem to be incompatible. But they're not incompatible. I
   do care for myself and I also don't. One regards the "might have
   been" for myself, which is at a FAR lower level than the
   "never-will-be" for others... because *I* had substitutes for
   higher education but not everybody has that opportunity. I feel
   worse for them]