Einstein very much was an educational rebel. He is often considered someone that succeeded in spite of his education.

Having said this, a thought that I've had for a while now is, "How would Einstein have turned out had he not had to fight against his teachers?" This comes to mind because, as a teacher, I see many students come to me that have received encouragement, opportunities, and praise, but lack the tenacity to succeed when they face difficult problems on assignments.

I can't really make any intelligent, global statement about psychology or sociology, but I do think it is worth imagining how much Einstein's fight against the educational system, religious persecution, and tradition on the whole, lead him to be as powerful a thinker as he was.