Did your father actually design and/or maintain VORs?
Out of all of the Ground Electronic Technicians/Ground Navaid Technicians that I have met in my job so far, including the ones who have come over to the Flight Inspection side of the business, I've never met one so far that has degrees in Aeronautical and Electrical Engineering.
Are you saying that he was such a technical person that you are sure he COULD HAVE taken one apart and put it back together while explaining the intricacies of its' function?

Time/Distance/Headings, Time to Go, Fuel Burn, Fuel Remaining, Loiter Time, ETA, ETE, etc.... are all mental exercises that are useful to everyday flying - general or professional. At the same time there are numerous outdated technologies and ideas involved in the FAA written tests and some certainly need to be cleaned out and updated. Of course this is easier said than done with the wide breath of knowledge that is suppose to be tested across all facets of aviation. Skyhigh uses the example of Celestial navgation and Morse Code as examples of requirements in the not so distant past that were essential for serious aviators. I only know of ONE guy whom I work with that knows Morse Code and NO ONE that I know of has any idea of Celestial Nav
I think I do a pretty good job in my own studying and preparing for which topics I need a deeper understanding of and which topics I can essentailly meorize the answer and move on. I would hope that each of us could make that same distinction in our own careers - which could likely change over time too.

lstorm2003 - you have some great ideas where this test should go. Maybe you should try to put it to use. Here are two sites that would list job opportunities with the FAA:
USAJOBS - The Federal Government's Official Jobs Site
FAA Career Opportunities

USMCFLYR