What kind of intuitive tools would help in this regard?

Don’t think there’s a go-to tool just to find the right typeface.
Maybe, um, Noordzij’s system might be an easier way out (as long as you don’t go to weird extremes).

One solution I see more and more is type designers doing the job for the graphic designers, offering comprehensive ready-to-go solutions for every occasion, up to “families” of varied typefaces (serif, sans, catchwords, dingbats, etc.) all designed to be different but still work together.

"most graphic designers seriously lack the required knowledge.."

One reason is that type is just one aspect of graphic design, and designers spend much of their time dealing with other things.

Other aspects include gathering, organizing and presenting information, photography, illustration, layouts, dealing with clients, dealing with printers and other vendors, the business aspects of design, and many other things. Folks who focus full-time on fonts (like many of the folks here) are naturally more knowledgable.

Right, typography is a smaller part of graphic design, as taught, with the arrival of web design and animation to bulk up the curriculum, as well as traditional print skills.

The nature of typography has changed too.
Now a focus on how it may be animated, rather than kerned.

Other aspects include gathering, organizing and presenting information, photography, illustration, layouts, dealing with clients, dealing with printers and other vendors, the business aspects of design, and many other things.

But we're not learning all of these things at school. When I studied at the art academy previously in 2007 we had photography and drawing classes. Not any longer. Typography is such an essential part of graphic design, it really is ridiculous that we don't get typography class. I constantly see the most basic typography mistakes everywhere around me. For a profession that has to make use of typefaces to do their job well, they know very little about our product and how to use it. You wouldn't make this excuse for a car dealer who knows nothing about cars but "knows a lot of other things about the industry, and the nature of mechanics have changed too". I don't really see how that has any bearing on the notion that graphic designers no longer possess the required knowledge and skill to do their job properly.

In 2007 we also had to learn how to code our own portfolio website. This time the two coding classes we had so far in 1,5 year time were an absolute joke. As for animation, we haven't learned a thing. I'm glad about that though. I'm glad I can code, but I don't want to learn animation or 3D. It's just not my focus. I think it's quite ridiculous how the modern graphic designer seems to have to do just about everything, but doesn't become an expert at most of these things.

" But we're not learning all of these things at school."

I did — as much as time permitted — but it varies from college to college. An art academy would have a different focus from my major which was Visual Communication Design.

Do designers know as much about typography as someone who deals with it full time? Of course not. Just as they don't know as much about photography as a professional photographer.

I agree with you that I see mistakes all the time. Designers today often set type themselves instead of using professional typesetters who were more skilled.

I also see bad photo scans because designers do it themselves instead of letting a pro do it. In some ways desktop publishing has been a negative for graphic design.

I did — as much as time permitted — but it varies from college to college.

Apparently so. When I studied at the art academy in 2007 we had separate classes, so we did a lot more things. Now the system has changed and we work in projects rather than classes, and the layout of the school itself has changed to something much more open rather than separate rooms, so teachers and students may interact with each other more freely. As for working in projects, it means we get trained a lot better to function in our jobs, but academically speaking we're a lot less varied. As weak as the focus on typography on this academy is, last year I heard it's only getting worse. I was surprised to hear they're actually doing a third year course in Glyphs at the moment. I suppose it may indicate a return of focus on typography, but I think they're just going to let KABK do all the typography stuff.

Do designers know as much about typography as someone who deals with it full time? Of course not.

I certainly don't expect them to, but I don't expect them to use hyphens for various things that have nothing to do with hyphenation either, or to use faux bold effects and faux small-caps. There are some basic principles I think every graphic designer ought to learn. I also expect them to make wiser choices in typefaces. That is something I actually have yet to master myself. As much as I know about type design, my vision regarding what I would consider artistic or expressive typography has a long way to go in maturing.

Also, I feel you're somewhat downplaying the relevance of typography for a graphic designer. Graphic design is not about shapes but ultimately about communication. How good can the communication be when one of the most essential parts of it is not getting the attention it requires?

I often feel like we're being trained as artists while a large part of it is perhaps not an exact science, but a lot more rational and less emotional. That's something I'm missing generally. There's a lot of focus on our ideas and process but not a lot of focus and constructive feedback on the execution of our projects. They will tell you what's bad, but not how to be better. That's something you have to work on yourself, and some people struggle with that. I don't, but I do feel I could potentially get a lot more out of my education.

My experience, teaching type design to third year graphic design students fairly recently, was that they had studied typography in first year, but had since lost the plot, presumably through inactivity in that area.

For instance, when making a poster to showcase their type design in text setting, they would just dump the text in a text box with the Paragraph defaults: Auto Leading, and no Paragraph Indent or extra Paragraph Leading.

Nothing wrong with that—it’s rather like what you’re reading now—but it does indicate a lack of subtlety and engagement.

"I often feel like we're being trained as artists..."

That's one of differences between an art academy and the college I attended. We were not trained as artists, but rather as problem-solvers and communicators. It's important for students to pick the school and approach that works best for them.

Martin I don't feel we're that far apart, I agree that more typographic training would be great. But there is a lot more to learn besides typography. And a lot of education takes place AFTER college.

Nick I agree with your comments.