wstreps: "No super I'm not bitter at all. I actually had very nice PhD fellow working at my place for good while. He learned quite a bit. Not mention a number of different collage kids who wanted to learn about reptiles from someone who's actually done something. You can know all there is about arm speed , release , ball rotation , velocity but when you go out and throw a pitch to a real a batter, it's not the same as it was on the test a paper. As far as my own education go's with out bragging it's a safe bet I can get "a job" if I ever feel the need to go punch a clock for someone else. So far I'd say things have gone ok."

I agree that actual experience with something is important, but so is education! You complain about people using their education without actual experience, but it goes both ways!! A lot of people simply think that they can get experience in something and they suddenly know everything! You can learn how to break an engine down and rebuild it by watching someone, but without the background education, you couldn't duplicate all the parts! And I see it all the time...people with "experience" don't really have a clue what they are really doing! The quality of the experience is also based on how good the "teacher" is. It's like my wife's stepfather...he's an electrician and he thinks he knows everything about it...he claims all the time that "engineers screwed up the design" ...he has no knowledge that different localities have different requirements that must be followed, or why in different situations a different guage wire is specified...from his "experience" he simply thinks he knows what works in all cases. I see it often in my field, civil engineering...contractors who "know how to do it" won't go by the details provided cause they've "been doing it for 20 years"...they don't understand different materials require different treatment and they have caused mass structure failure. Doesn't happen all the time, but almost ALL of these failures are due to the contractor, not the design.
And don't forget that most modern technology (that many take for granted) that makes our life simpler was created by those in academics...without their advanced knowledge on subjects, things wouldn't advance (in most situations, people with "experience" can maintain a level of technology, but they seldom advance it)


wstreps: "No kidding. The deal is these people who are hired OUTSIDE their range of expertise are put in positions of authority that are also OUTSIDE their range of expertise . So they SOMETIMES turn to people who are PERCIEVED as experts. The academics . At this point their fed information such as the USGS map etc. The job of the academics is to prove other people wrong and to be right. All thru school they learn to debate. In winning debates they raise questions and make points not on fact but by using speculation. This might be a good way to win in the classroom but in my opinion it's no way to determine the laws governing our society."

all through school they learn to debate?? Either you didn't go to school, or you went to a bad one!! I'm an engineer, and ALL my teachings where about science, and utilizing facts, and applying them, not "debating" everything.

In short, both experience AND education (aka academia) are needed...to simply bash academics as the source of problems shows ignorance (and also shows which of the two you have! Obviously not both) I don't mean to bash on those without an education (my best friend is a brick mason and didn't even finish high school), ONLY those who are dumb enough to think academics is the problem.
The real problem is individuals (on both sides) who act like they know what they're doing, when they really don't...I guess they have egos and won't admit they are not competent in that area. There is a lot that can be learned from experience, and there is a lot that can be learned from education
-----
-David

Check out my pet pics at:
http://www.myspace.com/obx_fisherman

1.0 ball python (Pandora - don't ask)
1.0 argentine boa (Prometheus)
0.0.1 colombian boa (Athena)
0.1 hogg island boa (Andromeda)
0.0.1 brazilian rainbow boa (Inara)
1.0 Dumeril's boa (Hannibal)
1.0 kenyan sand boa (Diablo)
0.0.1 normal corn snake(Cypress)
0.1 amel. corn snake (Morgan LaFay) RIP
0.0.2 baby corns (Romulus and Remus)
- 1 normal, 1 ghost
0.0.1 banded cali. kingsnake (Cain)
1.0 tangerine honduran milksnake (Narcissus)
0.0.1 snow corn snake (Valkyrie)
1.1 garden phase amazon tree boas (Pegasus, Lenore)
0.0.1 baby yellow amazon tree boa (affectionately called
Snuggles)
0.0.1 albino san diego gopher snake (maybe Octavian)
0.0.1 sandfish skink (Slick)
0.0.1 fire skink (Phoenix)
1.0 bassett hound/black and tan coonhound mix (Luke)
0.1 Boxer (Zoe)
1.0 bearded dragon (Leonidas)
1.1 ferrets (Ares, Enyo)
1.2 cats (Galahad, Ripley and Sassy)
2.0 rats (Pan, no name yet)

[ Show Entire Thread ]