I was about to write that this would never have worked for me as I didn't gain an interest in educating myself until I left college. However, it was immediately after college that I gained this interest. I'm wondering if that might mean that this actually would have worked for me. What if I hadn't gone to college, would I have gained a desire to learn after high school? What if I hadn't gone to high school, would I have acquired my current thirst for knowledge after middle school? I can't help but feel that it was the structure of education that fueled my apathy. While attending school, I never read anything that wasn't assigned. Now reading is the majority of what I do outside of work.
On a related note. I was home schooled two years. One of those years my parents were somewhat busy with various things and I was left to work on my own sometimes. I mostly just worked on programming (if you consider Visual Basic programming). That leads me to believe, that, left on my own for 12 years of education, I may have acquired highly specialized knowledge in my chosen field, and not much else. It is debatable whether that is good or bad.
I would love to see some studies on this subject.