I don't think this can be reduced to being taught at a university.
A good analogy might be going to a gym: some people have the discipline to just work out at home on their own; others simply need the right environment to get into the right mindset.
Some people can perfectly teach themselves programming, but it requires both practice and individual research, aka. doing stuff and reading articles/books/papers. Others may just need the environment and guidance of a university to reach an optimal mindset for learning the right things.
And even among those who "learn" at a university, there's always those who think that all they need to do is attend classes and let the knowledge drip into them. Those people often go out being as incompetent as they went in, because they didn't spend any time improving themselves.
Ultimately, saying university is either pointless or a must for every person is missing the point. Some people are better off without it, others could hugely profit from it. The only absolutes are that university is the "safer" route, while self-teaching is, if it works out, the more direct one.
A good analogy might be going to a gym: some people have the discipline to just work out at home on their own; others simply need the right environment to get into the right mindset.
Some people can perfectly teach themselves programming, but it requires both practice and individual research, aka. doing stuff and reading articles/books/papers. Others may just need the environment and guidance of a university to reach an optimal mindset for learning the right things.
And even among those who "learn" at a university, there's always those who think that all they need to do is attend classes and let the knowledge drip into them. Those people often go out being as incompetent as they went in, because they didn't spend any time improving themselves.
Ultimately, saying university is either pointless or a must for every person is missing the point. Some people are better off without it, others could hugely profit from it. The only absolutes are that university is the "safer" route, while self-teaching is, if it works out, the more direct one.