Theory is important. We need to understand WHY. We need to understand HOW. But if theory does not translate into application it really is kinda useless. It might be super fun, and I've been guilty of having long winded arguments on small little points of theory. But in the end, it's not useful.
Even when theory has extensive application getting buried in the theory can only take you so far. I'm sure you are familiar with the stereotype of the overly educated intellectual who is completely incapable of simple life skills.
A more direct issue is that without application it is really really hard to gauge how important each particular piece of theory is in relation to others. For example, with aircraft there are different forms of drag including lift-induced, form, skin friction, and wave drag. Reading a textbook you could easily miss the fact that the significance of each type varies dramatically. You could spend tons of time trying to figure out the wave drag for an aircraft design and miss the fact that your glider (slow) is going to have almost 0 wave drag.
So go out and do things. Learn the theory, but go and apply it. That's where it matters.
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