Not a heresy at all. I went to two of the top 5 CS schools in the US and I barely recall anything I learned in there, almost everything I know ended up being self-taught later in a much more efficient manner than being student n.200 in a class taught by a researcher who barely speaks English and doesn't want to be teaching. The main upside was associating myself with those two brand names which later got me jobs and cofounders, but that's about it.
When I went to a public university in Europe, I realized after a month or two that lectures are a waste of time, and I stopped attending most of them. But the structure and guidance provided by the university allowed me to study things more efficiently than I could have done on my own.
I think the key is that universities are not schools. They are places of learning, not teaching. If you go to a university and expect to be taught, you are probably wasting your time.
And that vision is not really compatible with tuition fees, because they can easily turn you from a student to a paying customer.
You are correct, but universities did use to actually teach. SICP is still relevant 40 years later, and it was because the professors who created the class and textbook actually gave a fuck, knew what they were doing, and were still allowed to do their jobs. I really do think this is a recent phenomenon, but I have no idea how to get back what we once had from the parasite class.
