Reflexive opposition.

I was at a meeting the other day when someone was explaining his ideas about a paradigm shift in secondary education. The idea would take the way we do business in a different direction, with the hope of infusing more relevance into instruction, thereby reducing the drop out rate. Watching the body language around the table was telling. It's interesting to me to see the reflexive opposition some people have to other people; opposing something based on its source rather than on its merit is assinine, but happens all the time. It's a very "pre-teen" behavior (adults are always wrong - right?), but it is exhibited by many, many adults - even those we give responsibility to rationally think through issues (just watch C-SPAN!)