In reality, what you are talking about , and has not been taught in our colleges and universities for decades , is “Critical Thinking”……
The thing is that “Critical Thinking” has to have a Very Strong Foundation of Practical Learning to build on.
I know several older Mechanical Engineers that can literally work circles around their younger counter parts. The younger Engineers are “book smart” and have advanced Computer knowledge whereas the Older Engineers actually had to APPLY what they learned to Real World applications like actually Building a Car Engine as part of their Engineering Lab……
I have seen products designed so POORLY by Today’s Engineers that it was obvious that they never had any actual “Hands On” in the development of phase of the product and that they could NEVER disassemble and reassemble the item that they engineered….. Otherwise they would have designed it differently.
