But what real worth is memorizing times-tables for the modern student, when a calculator is now a fundamental part of his tools ?
OK, so what is one supposed to do when standing at the counter of a hardware store with 10 bolts in hand, and then having to wait for ever while the assistant tries desperately to find a calculator to work out what 10 @ 0.45 each is going to be.
Yes, that happened to me not long back, it took close on 5 MINUTES to get past the payment stage, the first calculator had a flat battery, the "spare" was missing, and despite several "suggestions" that it was 4.50, I could not pay for the items until said "assistant" had eventually found the means to work it out for himself.
If the same scenario starts happening in aircraft flight decks, and I seem to recall that's how this thread started, I for one am not going to be too comfortable about the implications. Yes, there is a lot more automation, but that does not remove the requirement to know and UNDERSTAND how the thing works when a normally obscure and minor part suddenly decides to throw it's toys out of the pram and not do what it's supposed to. At that stage, someone has to be able to make sensible decisions about what to do, and how to do it, and if the underlying knowledge and skills are not there, do we all just sit there and wait for the impact? I hope not.
One of the most scary aspects of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is that so many of the things that people take totally for granted, like water, food, electricity, petrol, vehicles and roads to use them on, mobile phone services, the internet, ALL of these things are at present not there, and not likely to be for a long time to come, and even the emergency services are struggling to cope because they can't operate in the manner in which they've become accustomed to doing, using facilities that within living memory, have always been there, or at least been mostly there, with gaps.
Now, ALL of the "essentials" have been wiped out over a massive area, and the sytem has suddenly discovered that it's not sure how to work any more.
Apply that same scenario to the discussion here. When it's all working, and doing what it's supposed to , no problem, almost anyone can manage that scenario. Fail increasing quantities of the automation and support systems, and life gets very complicated, very fast. At that point, if the underlying skills and knowledge are not there, the potential for a catastrophic accident is only too clear.