Thing is, he's the equivalent of a grad student, which is the official place to start your apprenticeship in learning Science, which is what he was doing (see what he does praise the PI for). The only people in a lab who are lower in status are undergraduates and technicians.
I understand his educational status. But my point was, for example, dismissing an idea suggested by a child simply because the idea came from a child, not on a qualitative basis.
Clearly higher learning institutions can, have, and do serve an important role in modern society. As one would expect from a concentrated collection of intelligent, educated people.
Maybe it's not a new phenomenon and just indicative of the information age, but there seems to be a trend where they—large reputable institutions that would have previously been a source of innovative ideas—have become increasingly been a source of suppression (subjugation, even?) of enterprising, forward-thinkers who upset the status quo.
Thing is, he's the equivalent of a grad student, which is the official place to start your apprenticeship in learning Science, which is what he was doing (see what he does praise the PI for). The only people in a lab who are lower in status are undergraduates and technicians.