Educated Idiots (EI)

Educated Idiots (EI)

I have not the slightest problem with education, but indeed that education needs to be tempered with real world experience for the person to be effective at what they do.

A good (no great!) example of an EI is the present resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He is purported to be the smartest man ever to hold that job and yet it is obvious to everyone with two brain cells that he does not understand the American economic system. He is also supposed to be a law scholar, but he seems to fail to understand the role of the Supreme Court and it’s responsibility to overturn unconstitutional laws.

I spent 22 years in the service, and as I became a Senior NCO I found myself spending more and more time bailing Lt Fuzz out of situations he brought upon himself because he was very long on self esteem, and more than a little short of common horse sense.

My next 25 years was spent in the R&D field, working in the Flight Test Engineering department of a leading Aerospace company. I worked with some great Engineers, but again I found myself bailing out fresh faced college boys who were long on education but short on experience.

I have a younger friend, who essentially lived with us (Son’s best friend) in his school years. He is a talented Aircraft Engineer, Pilot, and finished his last tour with the Navy flying drones in “the sandbox”.

One of his earlier assignments was leading an Aircraft Recovery team in Iraq made up of civilian contractors, most with a lot of aircraft maintenance experience. They would find downed aircraft and arrange to either fly them out or have them recovered by heavy helicopters. I asked him specifically what he did on the team and he replied “I mostly stayed out of the way and let these pros do their job. My function was to find out what they needed and make sure they got it.”  He learned young that education does not equate with knowledge earned through long experience.  I like to think I was part of that learning experience.

The worst Educated Idiots I have ever encountered are those whose parents paid for their education in what is now a several year party and vacation. Many of today’s college courses involve putting information in short term memory and regurgitating it on a test in a couple weeks. Very little real learning takes place there.  And it shows when they hit the workplace.

The absolute worst are those who emerge from college with advanced degrees, like law or medicine and have never worked a day in their lives.  The medical field is a bit better than law because they do require a residency. These 20 and 30 something, “trust fund babies”, are long on arrogance and self importance, but real short on life experience and practical knowledge.

I recall the mantra of the 1960’s - - - “Never trust anyone over thirty!” - - - I think today we would be wise if we “do not trust anyone under 40”.  They simply have not lived long enough to know much of anything.