What I've found interesting though is that a school environment would have provided at least facilities and equipment with which to pursure some of my musings. Add TIME to that as well and you've got a MAJOR opportunity. Networking with others motivated enough to dedicate themselves to focusing on music is an incredible springboard for ongoing relationships in the music community at large.
** i believe there to be a knowledge base at many (not all) schools. it all depends how you use and what you choose to take from that base. while i had a little bit of an interest and had heard 20th-century classical music in my home and earlier school environment, the univeristy environment was extremely helpful and important in getting more knowledge and exposure to it. after that, it was up to me to decide what i liked or didn't like. many people didn't care to pursue that avenue, i did. further, the knowledge base there was a good introduction to understanding compositional technique and analysis of pieces - - from plain chant on up. for me, this was very valuable as it helped me deal with formal issues in composition and improvisation. in terms of jazz or improvisaion, forget about it, very little was helpful in my situation. i'm not really sure that a teacher can really teach you that in any event, they can probably only guide (which is probably the case with composition too i'd say), but that's teaching may really be about anyway (?).
i do think that many people go to school because their parents have them go - - whether they want to our not. i was lucky in that i had been on the road for more than two years and chose to go back to school - - i had had some "real-world" experience (as real as living in hotel rooms and playing in jazz clubs can be) and was motivated and hungry for the knowledge that was at the university. many of my classmates did not have that advantage.
stig