TTWSYF:
adjusted knowledge: Though I think credentials are important and add weight to a person's argument, I also think a well read person with life experience is just as qualified
I disagree. Although it can be true. The problem is that where are they getting their reading material? Is it an accredited source of information?
I agree with you. TTWSYF.
A well read person is not necessarily the same as well educated. A person may be well read in hundreds of books and still fall short of having a solid base of knowledge.
And, a person can have excellent critical reasoning skills but no solid base upon which to use them. It is the educational institution that can offer a framework in which to evaluate material.
That said, though, I have met many people with lots of letters behind, and in front of, their names who are dumb as posts on subjects outside their frame of reference. And I have met people with little more than a grade school education that have phenomenal knowledge about particular subjects.
Education comes in many forms - learning is a life time endeavor, and just because a person doesn't have letters behind their name, doesn't mean that they don't have valuable contributions to make and things to teach even the most learned. That is why the greatest teachers teach - so that they can learn.