As everything in life, it has it's advantages and disadvantages. for those who care about a social life, school is necessary. Very hard to make friends if you don't attent to a school or college. For my own experience, I really don';t recall saying I've made friends at work, excepting one girl I have been hanging out with recently, she is becoming a friend, but that's like, after 6 months I've "known" her.
I really miss that social part of school. As for everything else of it, I am so freaking glad I finished that damned s*** The last 2 years were pretty much a whole lot of all s*** together.
Now that I only got a part time job, I'm enjoying some of the pleasures of life (my own), one of those: video games. I have got more time than I ever had before to do this activity. I don't have to be worrying about the stupid homeworks, about a stinking exam I have to study for...... I can play any time I want, until I get tired of it.
Although I am doing this, being quite conscious that I won't have this privilege for ever... sooner or later, I'll have to take off from home, and live for myself, by my self. And next year I plan to go to college, so I am sure that all of these free time I have now, will be something I'll mmiss. But as I said before, college will give me other different benefits I don't have currently.
But to directly answer Jolie's question, yes, school took a lot of my time. I'm glad I'm already off from that