▶ Your Answer :
Receiving and reflecting on appropriate feedback is imperative in carrying out work or projects in terms of productivity and sustainability. However, there could be conflicting opinions about from whom should we accept such feedback because some only cherish professional assessment while others believe in the opinions of ordinary people.
Those who contend that judgment of the public is as valuable as that of the professionals might invoke the power of collective intelligence. Such a claim places an emphasis on the impact of collaboration and the synergistic effect of diversity. Although this argument would prove true in some cases under specific circumstances, I do believe it is an illusion to regard the public's opinion as useful as the professionals'.
Firstly, professional advice is reliable because the expertise and experience of the professionals vouch for their statements. Most of the problems which we face in the modern world are extremely complicated; it requires a high level of incisiveness to parse out the problem and find solutions. Experts are exactly those who were trained for this. For example, the Moon administration in South Korea failed in its real estate policy, as a result of ignoring the warnings of economists. Skyrocketing hose price surely undermined their political base.
Secondly, it is only the professionals who can take responsibility for their opinion. People listen to professionals because the public thinks they can trust those experts. Thus, every word the professionals say affects their own reputation and authority. It is less likely for them to speak out without thorough consideration and deliberation on a matter about which they were asked to give advice. Provided you ran into a random user comment on an online community that strongly asserts that the government must roll out a universal income policy. Suppose a congressman found this comment and decided to reflect this opinion on the policy-making process. However, is the random user on the internet able to take over the responsibility for what he said?
All in all, I claim that critical judgment of work is only valuable when it is given by a group of experts. Some might argue that the expert is not always right. True. However, it is about the probability we are talking about here. If the stake is high listening to someone who is not an expert, I would not take my chances. |