I didn't mean to refer to the time spent homeschooling as the wasted time -- while some of it was wasted, a lot of it was well spent (including time reading fantasy novels)! I meant all the time I spent in school where I feel that I got not that much out for the hours put in.

I guess you didn't have the revised version which has an afterword that is a long rant about the education system (quoted in queenlua's excellent review), and which is probably shaping my take here.