I do ‘get’ your point BS, let’s not fall out.
But sticking with the example of stretching these steel rods til they snapped, as an electronics guy, they were of entertainment value. But others in these same labs went onto Civil and Mechanical Engineering. I’d personally feel happier driving over a bridge designed by an engineer who’s previously experienced real-life failure in a laboratory...
Having said all that, I’ve no idea what actually happens in labs for modern graduate courses. In my day, in electronics, an example might have been using big old oscilloscopes to plot the frequency/phase response of an amplifier, then being asked to compare and explain the measurements vs expected theoretical behaviour. If that amplifier were the front end of a DSL modem, such experience might still be relevant....