actually, there are cases where i would defer to expertise, especially if i didn't care very much how it turns out. but one might point out that expert opinion now on education is more or less the opposite of what it was thirty years ago, and will reverse again, no doubt. and one thing to keep in mind about experts: they are less critical and more unanimous than an average population: their status of experts is in part defined by their agreement with one another. they are more subject to irrational fads than the average illiterate peasant, for example.