I think this is a great observation. It shows how people think. We don't proceed by working our way down logic chains. We look to what others do to learn what is "acceptable" or "reasonable" and then we tinker a bit to make the concept more personally appealing and then we go with it without checking to see whether it makes sense or not.

I'm not finding fault with the person who made the comment re school. I am saying that we all do this sort of thing far more often than we would like to admit. We think of ourselves as thinking people. But true cases of us coming to a conclusion by thinking through alternatives are rare. Our usual procedure is to go by what others suggest is "okay."

This makes us vulnerable to marketing pitches, which aim for the emotions and which assure us (often through subtle means) that a particular expenditure is "good" or "acceptable" or "okay." We come to believe this without having any idea why. And then we don't want to see that "idea" questioned.

Rob