I'm torn about that. I have worked with some of the foremost geniuses of our time at Sandia National Labs. Some of them couldn't tie their own shoes. No social grace either. Then I came from Kansas farmers who lived on common sense or died from lack of it. They were all about social grace. I think if you can see both sides of the equation you are better off for it. I agree that the trade education puts you further ahead from a well rounded standpoint and its how I taught my kids, but it is pretty cool to watch a real scientist working on really hard to understand concepts and they just zip right through it. But there is always a good technician standing right beside him keeping common sense at the forefront.
This particular problem we are dealing with in this thread is about both. A very knowledgeable engineer or just good electronic guru can unlock the storehouse of ideas and the common sense guys can step in and keep things flowing in a straight line. There is always the question of why the guy purchased an alternator too large for his gauge, but that's sort of a copout and doesn't provide an answer. Lots of people doing it too.
