@Lightlyseared Let me see if I got this right;
What makes a person smart is not just memorizing facts by rote, but also understanding key principles which can be adapted to whatever you need to do. It takes both.
Rote learning is good for rapid response as it is easy to turn an otherwise complex action into a reflexive one, which is essential in a fairly narrow set of circumstances, especially those that are time-critical like cardiac arrest. However, if a situation isn’t in the book, rote learning is useless at best and possibly worse than knowing nothing at all.
Theory learning is far more adaptable, but sometimes cumbersome. It takes time and effort to run through all the possibilities and rule enough out to solve the problem (or get a proper diagnosis). If you face the sort of weirdness that House does then theory learning is far better, but for something more common like a car accident, you would rather an EMT that just reflexively does what they have to do quickly than some brainiac thinking for a few minutes.
Having either without the other will make you crap at whatever you are trying to do/be; you need both. And while your more specialized medical classes will teach you rote, broader classes like physics will give you the theory, make you more well-rounded, and prevent you from being half-assed.
That about right?