Higher learning

So the other day I was talking to a person who was going to a university (an American one) and he said he was taking some "Middle East Studies" class or something. I asked him if he knew the difference between Sunni and Shi'a Islam and he didn't know. I then asked him if he knew anything about how after World War I, territories formerly controlled by the Ottoman Empire became League of Nations mandates under British and French administration, and he knew nothing about it. I don't know what he's being taught but I think knowing the difference between the two main denominations of Islam and the history of the region is important if he's going to act like he's an expert on the subject. I'm not claiming to be an expert but it's funny how I know so much more than him. Nonetheless, he's the educated one because he's taking a class for it at a university and I'm not.

I got F's in school and I dropped out and I have never spent a single day in college so can somebody please explain why I know more than him?

Doctors apparently need 8 years in college. Well I wouldn't feel nervous if you got a guy with no training and trained him on the spot while he cut me open to operate. Because unless he was completely stupid he'd do the same job if not better a graduate would've done.