Glad I checked in on this one; there's a lot of good insight being shared, and I appreciate it. In case anyone is wondering, I did not start this thread to set up an "us against them" dynamic. I have formal education in some areas (music, for instance; like Mbo, I have years of training in classical guitar performance), and am self-taught in a number of others, so I can relate to both sides of this issue. I have a successful career in a very technical field; my colleagues generally possess advanced degrees in science or engineering. Yet I am an anomaly -- I do not posess a degree of any kind, as I was unable to carry my formal education very far in my younger days for financial reasons, and I have little desire to return to school at this point in my life. So this question is one that naturally interests me.

The larger societal question is one that I consider quite important: do we recognize non-traditional forms of education as being valid, and can we accept that a person may be quite well educated without having a degree that "proves" it? Obviously, I've got a personal stake in this question, but I'm not attempting to knock formal education; I'm simply questioning whether the open-mindedness expressed elsewhere in this thread is shared by other folks outside of our little community of more or less like-minded musicians. Also, I guess I'm curious about whether musicians -- who may recognize that there have been many self-taught musical geniuses -- are themselves able to make the leap to viewing self-education as a valid approach to non-musical subjects.

Keep those comments coming; I appreciate the interest this thread has generated.