Can expertise cause bias?

Can expertise cause bias in such a way that it prevents an expert from looking at new ideas with an authentically open mind?

I was inspired after reading this blog post about “calling BS” on educational bandwagons, trends and fads. It struck me after reading Dean’s post that, while I highly value the usefulness of skepticism, I wondered if I have put enough mental energy into exploring, in an authentic way, new creative ideas and innovations in education.

Don’t misunderstand; I think creativity and criticism are equally important in a highly complex professional endeavor such as education. My point is that I want to highlight two traps I have fallen into at times. First, I often jump quickly to questioning the validity and efficacy of new ideas in education, or even established ideas. Second, I often do not spend enough time and effort exploring new ideas in education, or even established ideas.

My guess is that both of these problems are not that uncommon in other educators as well. Not trying to sound clever, but I wonder if jumping quickly to skepticism is a sort of bandwagon, too. It can become fairly natural to develop and maintain a strong, questioning stance in the face of the continuous stream of educational ideas in blogs, books, papers, courses, and talks. Additionally, I wonder how well anyone can maintain a comprehensive knowledge of new (and old) ideas, theories, and other innovations in education.

I think I am quite well-versed in a dozen or so big ideas/theories but I freely admit that I have limited knowledge of many hundreds of others. Simple awareness or superficial understanding is not difficult. But true, in-depth knowledge takes time and effort. I don’t think anyone can have total depth or breadth but I think depth and breadth can, and should, be pushed.

Herein lays one of my key professional growth areas for this new school year. My theory is that my set of core beliefs and values, knowledge and skills is causing bias. I’m not talking about the normal epistemological bias that comes from professional practice, reflection, and developing competence. Rather, I am wondering if that core is making me jump to skepticism too quickly when facing new educational ideas and innovations. I am guessing that this is the case, probably more often than not. So, I want to start this year with the goal of letting more ideas pass through the critical filter so they can be examined with more of an open mind. I’m not saying that my core beliefs need to change; I am saying that I think I need to be more open to allowing for change.