Yes, many policies have unexpected consequences. The question is whether the experts are doing better at predicting them. The most sweeping educational policy in my lifetime, No Child Left Behind, passed with large bipartisan support, only to be abandoned 15 years later for failing to achieve its goals. I cannot find any expert opinion from the time that accurately anticipated these unintended consequences. If experts are much better than the general public at predicting the effects of policy, I would expect to see education experts on the record predicting the ultimate effects of the policy.

> And gifted math nerds (which I were) that benefited from a dramatically accellerated program have as much knowledge about the subject as a stereotypical redneck saying "We don't need math out on the tobacco farm".

I think the "nerds" would know enough to understand that they benefitted from the accelerated program and would have not achieved as much if it were taken away.