If air traffic control operators have to constantly pit their noggins against their equipment while thousands of lives hang in the balance, you might assume that the Federal Aviation Administration or the military would hunt down people with some sort of advanced degree in rescue mathematics, which is a field of study I just invented. Actually, you don't need a college degree at all (or even any prior experience, if you get in via the military, like I did). That's not necessarily a bad thing -- from what I saw, the people with higher education were the ones who would most often struggle and even flunk out of training. With them, the creative part of their brain is bogged down by the analytical part, which wants a black-and-white solution to every problem.