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> Independent learners almost always develop gaps.

I think that goes for any leanrer, independent or traditional. Ask a random sample of college graduates to lecture for an hour on their degree focus and you will see the evidence of this.

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The purpose of national college accreditation standards (as ABET does for engineering) is to avoid those gaps. This is accomplished publicly by their specifying core courses and syllabi that span the competencies expected from anyone earning a given degree (BS, BA, etc). Accreditation leaves schools little wiggle room when creating compliant courses and content. By delivering on a base set of cores that span essential theory and skills, students and employers are assured that anyone who earns that degree in an accredited school will indeed possess a standard set of core skills and thus will not suffer from gaps.

Accreditation is important, especially if the school is not well known nationally.

I've seen far more incompetence out of college educated engineers than autodidacts. I've seen far more time spent unteaching bad habits and bad ways of thinking for juniors. Computer science theory is mostly useless and only midwits who are wooed by theory would think otherwise. Big O notate the $80k on a degree you didn't need.

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