Credentials Over-Rated?

Demonstrating that one is able to conform to curricula currently trumps boldness; seat hours in the auditorium count more than audacity. I wonder if that’s really good for America, though. To become educated is a marvelous thing; to have the opportunity to study is a privilege. But have we become a society that places too much weight on the attainment of a diploma, which sometimes indicates nothing more than an ability to keep to a schedule and follow a syllabus, and underappreciates the ability to wonder, to strike out on an individual path, and to learn on one’s own? When did non-conformists become so unromantic and undervalued?