It is endemic within our current social system
The cell phone is tied to their network time, which is tied to GPS (until Lightsquared messes it up). Your computer probably has no synchronization with anything.
Back in the 80's I was told to show our new rod man how to reduce distances. Like I learned from my dad when he first showed me how, the first thing I started with was explaining "why" not just "how". The LS heard me doing this and got upset that I was wasting time telling him this, when I was only instructed to show him "how". I shot back with "What good is it just to show him how to push buttons on a calculator without explaining why he's doing it?"
With the attitude that it takes too much time to explain "why", I can see how we feel that we are getting a generation of "button pushers", fortunately I have not seen that attitude much, if any, on this board, or that other one.
Ruel
That IS part of the problem for sure!
The other side of that coin however, is that many “old timers” never bothered to LEARN exactly what the NEW magic boxes were doing, OR telling them. It's pretty hard to pass on knowledge that you don't have.
Couple that with the “corporate” mentality of moving a guy into the office as soon as he gets his “ticket,” and delegating MOST of the field work (ACTUAL Land Surveying) to the “grunts,” and it becomes a self defeating cycle.
TRUE STORY:
A couple of years ago I was in the field with several Land Surveyors (there were four of us) and a field crew (two technicians) that worked for one of the LSs. I asked that LS “what Coordinate System are you guys using?” That's a pretty simple question don't ya think? He said “I dunno, you will have to ask the Party Chief.” So I asked the Party Chief the same question. Answer...”I dunno...whatever the Data Collector is using!” Well (I ask) “what did YOU tell it to use?” Party Chief, I didn't tell it anything, I just turned it on and shot a couple of Section Corners” (they were using an RTN via cellphone). Okay says I, what kind of residuals do you see? HUH????
At that point I could see that we were getting nowhere, so I wandered off looking for a good rock to sit on and have a cigar (and be thankful that I was NOT expected to certify this baby).
P.S. Dan Collin's comments about research (or the LACK thereof), of course factor in to the overall equation, but I consider that to be a somewhat different (though VERY IMPORTANT) issue.
Loyal