absolutely, you need hands on to be effective at anything...be it IT or architecture, engineering...basically anything....
I learned the same way you did. I went back to school to get an associates degree in networking and for the most part I was miles ahead of everyone in my classes from having some bench tech type experience and pc support helpdesk stuff under my belt....at the end of the program I felt like there were only a small handful (like 3-4) people who I thought could step into a sysadmin / netadmin job and that was including myself. But I did feel like they could get on a level one support position learn the ropes, get some hands on experience and work up from there.....
that's kinda how I view this course...