What is it with education, really?

...or, "What's this 'life' thing I keep hearing about?"

When I was a kid, I was eager to learn stuff. I learned to read early and I read a lot of books, first mostly about animals and insects because those were the kind of everyday things I found interesting.
This attitude didn't end when I went to school at the age of seven. Everyone said that school was a place where kids go to learn things. The word "school" implies that too.

Well, I did well in school, knowledge-wise. I learned many things and got good grades in exams, even in the subjects that I didn't like. I never stressed about exams or reading, because I got good grades anyway. As an afterthought I'd have gotten near perfects in all subjects if I had read for exams and stuff. But I wasn't motivated to do that. I knew the issues well enough and thought that if the others had to put so much effort into it, well, that was their problem. I didn't understand that I could've done better for myself. Of course I was and am lazy, too.

In senior secondary or high school I realized that I do have to read and study too, and really think about some things. Well, I was still lazy, so I didn't do too good. However, I passed the difficult IB system with reasonable grades.
Now I'm in university and I have trouble passing courses. Go me. I think that I will eventually graduate.

However, the worse shock value of this thing is the fact that no, studying and learning the stuff that they teach you directly is not the only or even the main objective of the system. No one ever talks about it and no one certainly bothered to mention it to me when I went to school.
The main objective is to start building social skills and networks. And in that respect, it's as if I never passed elementary school. I shouldn't have been let out of kindergarten with these skills – I was already hopelessly behind there. Now I'm a withdrawn person with social anxiety.

Thank the human brain for internet, though.