Are we becoming more stupid?, page-60

"The engineer and architect that built the buildings you work in and the road you drive on didn't learn anything from university?"

In Australia, perhaps, in the UK, no. There were no (science/engineering) universities or colleges when many of the roads, bridges, tunnels and buildings were constructed. Did the Wright brothers go to university? Did Einstein have a degree? Darby? Brunel? Watt? Jobs? How on earth did we get to where we are through all these people without university education?

The problem with educated idiots is often that they are not smart enough to know what they don't know. After all, they've been given a piece of paper that says they are an engineer, or an architect, or a doctor.

This isn't meant to denigrate researchers and degrees - but a university education isn't the be all and end all of learning, and especially not of practical application.