Expert Advice

I used to be annoyed that people needed "experts" - or so called experts to give them advice. I wanted people to EDUCATE and EMPOWER themselves. Then I realized how much I appreciate help when I get stuck knitting. I rarely know what fibers work the best at what weight and which needles do better and I CERTAINLY do better taking lessons at certain technical skills in order to perfect them. I do better when I am SHOWN how then DO IT HANDS ON rather than TOLD how to do it or simply read it.

Meanwhile - I have had several ex's who came home with products for their hair that they were sold by their hair stylist. And I remember saying, "do you even USE product in your hair?" Or another time, when one ex switched from a really good shampoo to a fairly crappy shampoo because his barber recommended it. People like to be told what to do. We feel like being guided.

I'm highly educated, and all along the way, I've been well read, gaining my education, and I've been well respected. I would teach classes or be in jobs with people who would take me at my word. People would make high stakes decisions based on my word. And I would come home and have partners who wouldn't buy groceries without checking a rating site over MY OPINION. I realize this may have been a scam in order to get me to grocery shop alone - but I also realize they didn't TRUST my opinion or my abilities.

I was "just a wife." I was never an "expert" to them. Experts spit out charts, they don't cook or clean or make love. And also- it doesn't take a DEGREE but EXPERIENCE to garner expertise in many areas. That is why women have been so good, historically at investing money. They KNOW products that are good and will invest in the stock market in products and companies THEY LIKE. And generally- those stocks are steady and make reasonable gains. Some might snort at that- but in this shit-tastic market- THAT IS A GREAT STRATEGY.

Historically- passing on sound advice like "never use manmade fabric with a plastic one because it will wear out" is SOUND ADVICE. We have handmade quilts today that are STILL LASTING and still around even though they were washed, dried, used for DECADES AND DECADES, hung to dry in the sun, pooped on, vomited on, made love on, given birth on- you name it. Why? Because women passed on their advice about how to make a strong quilt and the advice was followed through upon. It was passed down and each woman could become and expert over time. No one held a "degree" in quilt making but the knowledge was there if it was sought and learned over time.

NOW - "women's work" is still dismissed and demeaned - but guess what- you cannot BUY a handmade quilt. You cannot afford one commissioned by a handcrafter. You cannot name a price high enough. They'll only do it for their families. Most of them wouldn't sell you one- but a good one will allow you to buy the fabric for them and they might teach you how to hand quilt next to them so you can do it yourself. They might roll their eyes if you insist on using a machine too. It is knowledge passed on. It is "expertise" passed on.

So why then - do we feel better with certifications? When KV Pharmaceuticals priced a once $10 drug at $1500 everyone hit the roof. But isn't that what we do when we take formally apprenticed training and "systemize" it and charge for it. Before - scholars were there - hanging out- and the students who wanted to learn came to them. You hung out talking and learning. When you were done - you went home. Doctors taught students this way, midwives taught the same. Chemists taught the same. And YES- it does need a degree of formalization for life saving purposes. But do we NEED "experts" with the big dollar on it or are we all just blowing by the equivalent of KV Pharm all over life and being fucked by them at the same time.

Experts are experts are experts. Certifications don't keep people safe. And plenty of doctors are quacks. And there are PLENTY of shitty professionals all over the place. And I as a patient have done more work on the relationship end of most of my healthcare than the other way around.

And in the classroom - my students wouldn't flock to me if they were getting the kind of quality attention and consistency they deserved. Education is broken and fucking everyone over - and charging them for the privilege. We're all getting fucked for what? To get to call our selves "expert" - and to point and call everyone else who have lived a life of experience not one?

In a clinical lab a woman saw a certain set of lymphs on a swab but her boss kept calling them something else. The woman had more experience than her boss, but the boss had a big degree. The woman caved and wrote what her boss said but in parentheses put that she also saw detected a number of lymph cells. The boss was smoking angry and called for a recount. The woman was terribly upset and felt horrible, thinking she should have stood up for herself. But in reality, she had been TAUGHT to defer to "experts" and to consider herself subservient to both her boss AND her lack of a degree, though she herself was an excellent hematologist. DEGREES DO NOT MAKE EXPERTS. Expertise can be learned and taught. And experts need to stay on top of their game as changes happen or they fall behind.

Consider the computer and people who refused to use it.