RECENTLY THE BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE has been advertising regularly on the local radio station promoting reducing dropouts and providing more college education as the cure-all for improving productivity.

I have a contrarian view: perhaps it is not a lack of education that’s contributing to a loss of US productivity; it’s too much education. Maybe, just maybe, it’s the dropouts who are maintaining U.S. productivity despite a “lack of education.” Consider this example, quoted in full:

...pointless test... in school, i was average at best. There was no teacher for what i was interested in... intelligence is the ability to uphold opposing ideas, examine it's spectra, and develop the mind. Example; This Vs. That, to the untrained mind it means 'victory' as the goal. To a trained mind, it is This IS That; understood. Einstein taught that Space is Time; relativity. He may have been wrong. Why, quanta is impermanent. The idea here is that the mind can be developed so any IQ test is short-sighted. Last I checked, my IQ was way over 140, yet i can't figure out percentages, i always look it up. As Socrates wisely said, 'I'm the wisest man in the World; I don't know anything at all.' And the Buddha said 2,700 years ago, 'to know is Not to know. Knowing not to know is wisdom.' LOL, you have been reading my blogs. Good. Meditation means 'mental development' Later

This was the first comment on the Popular Mechanics web quiz “What's Your DIY [do it yourself] IQ? PM's Ultimate Fix-It Quiz.” about your knowledge of popular do-it-yourself tools and techniques. The commenter above clearly thinks he/she is educated. He or she may well be a university graduate, I don't know for certain. I do know for certain is that he/she isn’t productive.

I also know for certain that I’ll go for productivity over education every day of the week.

Instapundit link to the PM quiz.

Oh, by the way, I scored 20 of 25 on the quiz. And I only have a PhD.