Grades just represent how well you do on marked work, not necessarily how much you learned.
I learned loads in Biology, I just happened to mess up a few labs by overlooking an entire page of diagrams.
Oh I also forgot in Grades 11 and 12 you can get classes off so that's 90 minutes of doing nothing.
Sometimes you get a spare between recess and lunch so you get 2+ hours of doing whatever you want.
Yes you can leave school, one of my friends goes home to play games in the middle of the day.
Being able to recall and apply an(a,some) equation/concept/story/vocabulary means you did not learn anything, okay. My teachers teach people how to use shortcuts, and there are no real shortcuts in life. So I choose to not get used to them in school and expect them in the real world. On top of that, they don't even teach the concept of the lesson, they just say,"Do this, but I'm not going to tell you why, just do it." I have an obsession of knowing how everything works that I touch, so this doesn't work for me. The book tells you every thing, why, how, when, and what. The teacher teaches you to "do" and nothing more than that.
At least this how it is where I live. If you challenge the teacher with a concept she/does not fully understand she assumes you are mocking him/her and demands you be quiet. Professors are probably not like this though.
"Is there a shortcut to make money" - Questions students used to shortcuts will be asking after they graduate. Yes, someone has asked this question and thought they were joking at first, but they were serious.
Anyone can be smart, but not all people can be knowledgeable. My teacher asked the students if they understood why they were doing things the way they were. I was the only one able to answer him. Turns out the students were just writing down what he was saying without thinking about it.
I'm not mad, just telling you what will happen if you don't learn things on your own for a change.
