Just to play devil's advocate a bit (I don't necessarily disagree with you), there is a danger in a little bit of knowledge. Mis-applied knowledge can be a ter

Just to play devil's advocate a bit (I don't necessarily disagree with you), there is a danger in a little bit of knowledge. Mis-applied knowledge can be a terrible thing. I've worked with people who took one night-class in metal shop, and suddenly were giving tips to the industrial design people. If someone with a little bit of knowledge is in a position of power and decides, "No, we're doing this project in C because I took a class in C and the teacher said it's the most powerful language," then things are going to get ugly, fast. To use the mechanic example, it'd be similar to someone telling their mechanic to put 10W30 into their car because their cousin swears that it's the best oil around (I know nothing about cars).