You didn’t have your basic farmers learning Wing Chun, you had people with more substance (learning it at that time). We should conduct the art in that matter, because it’s progressing in that matter. I think there is a great improvement of Wing Chun, because it passes onto intelligent people. Not just thugs, gangsters, or stupid people.
I think I would prefer that the art I am learning to be one that was used by a bunch of thugs and gangsters who had to really use it to survive and not by a bunch of intellectuals who only "think" about fighting and "think" that they know what would work in a violent situation.

A phrase that I have heard applied to arts that "think" too much is "paralysis by analysis". They put too much stock on the theory of their art and not enough hands on give and go with their art.