That's an interesting position to take regarding paying for training as a novelist. Though I personally have no experience as a novelist (other than being in the midst of making my first stab at writing a novel), what you say about needing contacts and the fact that novels these days are probably not read unsolicited makes sense and jives with what I have read as well. But I don't think that going to a particular school or having taken some specific course is necessary.

A few generations back, trade schools existed alongside the more traditional mode of learning of apprenticeship. An apprentice received on the job training, starting off small and moving on to do more and more of what we would probably call "real world" tasks until they were trained to journeyman or master status and could hold their own position as a shopowner. In many cases, it was a trade passed down in the family, almost like an intangible heirloom, no less valuable for its intangibility.

Today, specialization is such that periods of intense study are useful and for many careers, advanced study simply requires a more formal approach. Also it is seen as an advantage that a person be able to choose their career path and pursue the training necessary to reach it. But none of that has really changed. What has changed, in my opinion, is the nature of some of the jobs. As schools catering to medicine and law continued to sprout up, careers seeking the same level of expertise also added their curriculum to existing schools or new schools came into being that offered coursework in that field. Now it is becoming assumed that in order to function in most any position requires access to formal schooling.

Unlike engineering, which has branches that simply did not exist several generations ago, or medicine, which has become more refined over time as biology and chemistry have been further explored and we have learned more about our world, writing has remained fundamentally the same. True, there has been a refinement over time of technique and style, and genres exist now that did not exist before, but the basics of writing remain the same. We have better ways of doing things today because of advances in engineering. We lose fewer patients today because we know more about what affects the human body. But the classics are classics because they adhere to the fundamental principles about communicating in writing that have not changed over time. Some could argue that the classics ought to have suffered greatly due to outmoded language or modes of thought, but they still remain popular in spite of this.

As a result, with a well attended high school education that includes English skills in addition to practice writing, I don't think a person necessarily loses out on the ability to be professionally published. Might you lose out on opportunities to explore ideas and concepts from experienced professionals in an academic setting? Yes, absolutely. But one could also argue that a budding writer could visit their library to read what those professionals produced and learn from that. That same writer might also visit forums like this one to exchange ideas with others and thus increase their knowledge. Is it the same? No. Is it as beneficial? I think so. Is a formal schooling necessary?

Not in my opinion.

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