Do I think one should study the rules at one point or another in life, well yes if your desire is to work with images in any kind, it is important. 
Are the rules a must for everyone to know.. well for me, the answer is no. 
What I know of there aren´t any specific rule for any given object or subject, and if rules are only general, then are they not guidlines instead of rules?

Oliver 158 said that the rules are ancient and that the greeks and romes defined them, and I don´t argue with that. But the use of perspective that came around much later redefined the way we create today. Maby, just maby there is more to be discovered and defined in the way we create images and composition, but too find this we have let go and not always stick to the old.

Oliver158 you also said that we should make a diffrence between I like it and it´s a good work, but isn´t it a good work they´ve done if I like it ? We all look at picture from our base of knowledge, and I can´t say that one is better then the other.