Yes, if you're an autodidact, then MOOCs may be ideal. I couldn't agree more.
Another point - Already, MOOCs are being increasingly used as a recruitment tool to attract those highly motivated students (the diamond in the rough so to speak), many of them international students. They're partly aimed at finding the next Einstein.
Think what you like about MOOCs, but MIT and other universities are using them to find those in far-flung places of the globe (
http://www.slate.com/articles/techn...n_edx_mooc_then_gave_lessons_to_mit.html).
We've got a global educational arms race and MOOCs are just a part of it. It no longer matters if you're can't physically attend MIT because you can learn virtually with MOOCs in Mongolia, Nepal, China, India, Brazil or anywhere else. HG/PG population is not restricted to the US.
