Because everyone's goal in life is to own a business, invest in the stock market, and retire as fast as possible? Right. There are plenty of professions that honestly require a formal education: engineers, doctors, and lawyers are a few more "practical" examples. Behind them creating the framework which they rely on are research scientists.  And I say this as somebody very critical of "schooling." 

Depends where. In Quebec colleges are known as CEGEPs and those are pre-university schools you take for 2 years. In turn, university would end a year faster than most other places. How it works is usually:

Primary (Grade 1-6) You'd be about 12 years old when you graduate.
Secondary (Grade 7-11) You'd be around 17 years old normally.
CEGEP/Pre-University (2 years) 19
University (3 Years for a Bachelors/Undergraduate) 22

So everything takes about the same time as the US.

On a side note I'm studying in university and it's the first time I really have to apply myself and coming to school on days off (and weekends) to get stuff done. I don't find the workload particularly hard, it's just that there's so much of it and procrastinating is becoming more and more impossible (haha, life of a slacker). At this rate I doubt I'll be able to finish my program on time considering they're asking me to take summer classes and I have to work full time at the time to afford my tuition.

Do I miss High School? Eh, it was alright towards the end (middle school is the worst seeing as everyone is so insecure and immature). But all my good friends I've made during those years I still hang out regularly so that's what matters.

I'll be sad. I'm at Penn State and it's the best party school in the nation. There's something here for everyone and it's just damn fun living with people all around my age. There's always a group with the same interests. I never found people to game, watch movies, or play basketball with this easily in my little town back home which is where I'll be going. Oh well

Ummm not everyones goal is to own a business, invest in the stock market and retire as fast as possible but if you asked everyone in the world where they would 'want' to be when they're 50-65 years old they will most likely say retired and rich. And here they are going to school so they become retired and rich but 99% of the population isn't rich and quite often when someone does end up retiring they don't have any financial breathing room because school doesn't teach you anything about finance.

There's a reason why so many people are attracted to the idea of being rich and retired but only 1% of the population actually is. I'm not saying don't educate yourself because knowledge is extremely important, I'm saying instead of listening to someone who teaches for a paycheck go out and actually DO something.

When I say school, I'm not talking about the courses that are offered by individuals who started their own business so that they could teach you their findings, mentor you, mold you into success. I'm talking primarily about government funded schooling.

You know why kindergarten, elementary, middle school, highschool are all free? The government is sending you on an specific path where they can tax you and make back more money from you then it cost to put you in school in the first place. The average employee gets taxed 40%, small business owner gets taked 60%, not very attractive when 80% of the population doesn't like their job. A business owner gets taxed only 20%, an investor gets taxed 0%.

Most people don't know these things but most people went to school, and I feel sorry for the people that are going to live paycheck to paycheck working for that promotion so that they can spend more money and still live paycheck to paycheck and be unhappy working as an employee. These people could have started their own thing, but school doesn't teach you that, school teaches you to become an employee.

It was alright. I started at the bottom, but all through out high school, I met a ton of people and basically rose above the ranks in popularity. At my senior year, I knew people from just about every clique.

I felt relieved to be done and anxious to go to University. Took me a while to find my calling but I'm making it.

1. I'm not sure how accurate this is. Yes, people want to retire with a safety net and monetary cushion, but not all people are striving to be as rich as possible. I think it is more important to do something you like in the process of obtaining that money. Plenty of CEO's who understand finances perfectly and can make money easily, kill themselves because their lives are stressful. People don't go to school to be retired and rich when they are 50-60. They go to school so they can live a good life when they are 20-50 and THEN retire with a safety net. I personally don't go to school so that I can get a job in an area I like solely because I will have a safety net when I'm 50-60. I will work so that I can live a good life up to and after those ages. If money were the only motivational factor I'd just go into finance or engineering rather than pursue a physics degree with endeavors to be a researcher rather than those other things. I gain personal value in addition to monetary value by persuing such an occupational choice. 

2. Only 1% of the population is living comfortably retired? Or only 1% of the population is rich? Rich is relative. I consider most Americans pretty rich compared to people found elsewhere in the world. Most Americans above 60 are able to eat, partake in recreational activites, and do not have to work full-time to pay their expenses. That is pretty good compared to other places in the world. 

3. I was confused about that with the MBA statement. It seemed to imply that higher education is a waste as well. I agree, fiscal education should be an important part of school. And I am also opposed to government "schooling." That doesn't make the rest of what you learn in school useless, however. And while I believe public schooling is a very inefficient and controllable endeavor, it is still realized that the main demand for it deals with useful skills like reading, writing, mathematics, and history. Sure there are gaps in what they teach, but that is probably due to the inefficiencies of a the education system being publicly designed for a common denominator. In that I agree with you. 

What you said may apply to you in your country but certainly not here.

We had to pay for school. There was public schools which had very small fees (practically free) but they were hit and miss in terms of ability to teach children. So mos kids from those schools did not perform as well as private schools.

We get taxed on every dollar that earns you profit.  So even after you paid tax and say you were to put it into an interest account they will tax you on the interest earned. You would think that they would encourage people to save money but instead piss people off they get taxed again on the money they earned and put away.

School? Quite happy.. Travelled to some places before going to higher education.. If i look at my friends from back then i see them not living their dreams with ugly wives or husbands and even with uglier kids.. Some even are still with their first love from back them.. Go see the world, explore, travel, get rid of that small closed suficating following way of thinking... Then get back to go to the higher education you truely want to do and get a non shitty job.. School is such a small thing in life.. Sure its fine if you want the life of a 9 to 5 safe job.. But if you want more.. Go, explore, learn, adjust, don't follow, be the one that leads

I referred to my school as the Meat Hole. I hated that place...so...much. Got straight As but I hated every second of it. So glad I'm at college now. actually learning something that pertains to my life rather than how many times can jimbo spin a spinning top on a broken bridge without losing more than 4 teeth. Statistics...ugh.

That actually inspired me a bit. Everyone wants me to just go to school and get a good job out of it. I wanna follow my passion even though it is a passion that requires you to give everything to it. I don't want do do what everyone else is doing, or if it is just for the money.