learning is a function of what you want to know and who you want to know it from.
If you have a parental unit who tells you learn from everyone then you'll learn nothing. If you have a parental unit who tells you learn from no one then you'll learn nothing. If you give a kid a map telling them that they can learn these things to do x things they like as a child you better believe they'll learn them.
Video games are a great example. Arrogant, naive, and balanced people learn video games at roughly the same pace unless someone tells them to specifically look for a strategy, seek out "x" knowledge, and learn from "y" people. The human brain thrives off of games and decisions with well defined rules. Life isn't well defined though so we have to give children rules for them to understand to succeed.
There is something to be said about feeling safe about learning though. People shut down mentally when they feel they've been cheapened.
Those old wounds are easy to open.
Just to confirm this:
How fast do autistic children learn video games Jared? I'm willing to bet that even if they have retardation from autism or another crippling autism spectrum disorder that they still learn video games well.
edit: I also know that I've read somewhere in a medical article that autistic children have more favorable outcomes when they have been treated like normal children, which includes the not so productive things like children ostracizing them.