To think more well educated people are there to think and not do?

[Watdidusay]

In my professional experience I've noticed people who have degrees from certain unnamed better universities tend to be more hands off in work eg documentation, documenting planning, being proactive with reaching out to people for clarification or input.
I thought maybe I was just imagining it but this week I had a discussion with a colleague who has two degrees from top tier universities. We are in the same role in adjacent teams, at the same level so do the same job effectively.

This person does not contribute to documentation or reach outs or research at all - they say it's their job to think and they have to keep their mind free to be imaginative.
I know their team has complained a lot between themselves about this person not supporting them but I'm amazed by this attitude. That's not what the job is at all, certainly not how anyone I know does it.

This person also hasn't really had any intelligent ideas that I'm aware of.

Am I missing a trick here? Am I the stupid class and if I went to top tier instead of just Russell group id be getting other people to do the work while I daydream?

She doesn't sound stupid or lazy to me, sounds quite smart. Wish I had the balls to pull that off. The paperwork is probably pointless busywork anyway.

I wish she worked for me. She could think while doing the shredding, the photocopying, making the tea and doing the sandwich run.

Have we lost sight of who has three degrees or a mere two degrees from which Ultra Top Global Universities of International Standing?

In my experience university degrees aren't necessarily a good indicator of talent. One of the most stupid, vacant people I ever met studied at Cambridge, for example. Unbelievably they had a job at a top City law firm.

Same happens in accountancy. Graduates come in straight from Uni and think they know it all. Even those with good grades in an accounting degree often havn't the first clue about the job itself. In work, they all go through the same training process as school leavers which they tend not to like, (yes, they get a few exemptions from professional exams but the actual hands-on work experience is the same) but it's essential, as the "real job" is absolutely nothing like the theory they've studied and passed exams in. An accounting degree doesn't make you an accountant! When we were doing Uni open days with DS, we sat through an accounting subject talk, and when the presenter pointed out that the "route" to a professional qualification was a training job/contract with an employer alongside studying for the chartered accountancy exams, a few of the audience queried it as they genuinely believed the accounting degree made them an accountant and were aghast at having to spend another 3/4 years doing professional exams alongside a full time job!! Makes you wonder what other students would think when they found that out at a later date if they'd not sat through the Uni subject talk as there is clearly an unwritten "assumption" that an accounting degree makes you an accountant. I've also heard of graduates with law degrees, straight out of Uni, calling themselves a solicitor, when that's also impossible!

That sample of one person can't really be used to represent everyone who attended a top university and got a certain degree.