When Can You Trust the Experts?: How to Tell Good Science from Bad in Education

Chapter 6

Step Two: Trace It

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.

—Thomas Jefferson

Nullius in verba (translation: “Take nobody’s word for it”)

—Motto of the Royal Society of London

Bernhard Dohrmann is a businessman and entrepreneur of wide-ranging interests. Unfortunately, he has also had his share of legal problems. In 1975, he was convicted of securities fraud for selling railroad cars that did not exist. In 1982, he was charged by the Federal Trade Commission with misrepresenting the prices of investment diamonds. The case was settled out of court, with Dohrmann’s company returning $6.7 million to investors. In ...