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]