That’s funny. So many people I know who spent years learning and know all sorts of nitnoid details of arcane things don’t seem to actually know the basics. Whether in an hashkafa discussion or even understanding trends of Amoraic thought, they prattle on about things that make no sense and never stop to see the forest for the trees. Sad. Perhaps you need mesorah/shimush with someone competent as well as the capacity to understand and assimilate the knowledge.
I guess it’s better, all things said and done, for rov ahm who really aren’t that good to be peer pressured into unproductive learning time than what their ‘others’ do in a college environment.
But we really should strive for much more.