We could debate this all day but technically your are not a biologist unless you pass the exams that say you are qualified to be a biologist. Though I would take your word on biology over Rochelle Walensky any day considering what a mess of a job she's done but she's a perfect example of what happens when people hire people who aren't fully qualified for the job. A two year biologist shouldn't be the head of an organization like the CDC, she's underqualified. Maybe that's why they picked her, they didn't want anyone who could tell a difference, ignorance is bliss. Yes people out there without degrees can be much better at a trade than others. I actually hated it when I went to cos school because we had exactly people like that, highly talented individuals, creative, put a person to shame like me. I was better at men's hair than women's. Those kids who'd come in and could do just about anything with hair but on the other hand I was book smart, things they couldn't pass they were calling me after I left school, got my license and they failed because they couldn't pass the theory. Since I went to electrology school first I often was correcting the teachers, especially if they tried to fail a question as wrong on a test, I'd had to go get my text book and show them they were wrong. There were a couple of them that couldn't even tell you the stages of hair growth. Everyone has there pit falls, especially those at the bottom of the class, theory wise I was always better, graduated with the highest score ever seen in the electrology's schools history, they couldn't tell me my score they were just impressed. The funny thing was that I couldn't even read the title of the book when I got there, I was like what did I get myself into. Thermolysis was what got me, I knew electrology. Electrology, Thermology and The Blend. I also finished the course in record breaking time. You always get more time than required just in case you miss days. But I had to travel two and half hours just to get there, I stayed in motels and hotels, so really I had nothing better to do than hit the books. I was always honest though, if woman came in with a picture and wanted her hair a certain way and I didn't think I could do it I'd just tell them I was better with short hair or men's hair. I could tell you some wild stories though, lol. I had a back room set up in the back of my video store to do hair, but that's why I hit the books, I knew I had to understand the chemical processes involved because I wasn't going to do the year's apprenticeship under someone else required before you could open your own shop. We'd sit back there after hours having a few beers and having at it, sometimes it was what it was but those people I already knew for quite some time and were gain for a bargain compared to what it'd cost them somewhere else. lol. In your view everyone should just be running around doing their best at whatever it is they want to do but when people are doling out hundreds of thousands to have a house built they want someone who at the least has a basic understanding of how to build a house, you are going to have surgery you want someone who isn't going to cost you your life, your going to have a tooth filled, removed, replaced you want to know that person isn't going to leave you in worse pain than you already were and that's why it's important that a person can prove that they at least could pass an exam. Your analogy works well trying to encourage kids, which I do almost every morning when my grand kids get out of the car, I tell them you don't have to be good at everything just good at something. They don't need to hear that being good at something can eventually be quite a challenge depending upon that which they chose in life.