[Marcus316]

The statement "being told exactly what to learn" is so counter to my own university experience (admittedly almost 20 years ago now).

It seems to me that going to university to be told what to learn is counter to the actual goal of going to university, namely to have first-class access to resources (people resources, knowledge resources, laboratory resources) to pursue your own learning goals.

I've been tempted to go back to university in order to learn more about organic chemistry and chemical engineering, for instance. There's certainly a lot of information online, but a world-class chemistry lab with access to chemicals would be a great resource to have available to me, along with readily available mentors to help guide me when I have questions.

As for homework and essays, that sounds more like high school than university, from what I remember. It's always possible things have changed in the last 15 years, though.