Yes, I completely agree. The reason this is very disheartening to me is because I believe the thing that is really special and awesome about science as a discipline is that it teaches people how to critically evaluate and weigh evidence in support of a hypothesis. So instead of teaching people how to be good critical thinkers (and, especially in this day and age, ascertain whether a particular source of evidence should be trusted and what the potential biases that source may have), "trust the science" has been turned into a pretty empty appeal to authority.
This has been pretty evident in the past year when the experts have often been wrong, or at least pushed their opinions in a way that wasn't really supported by the underlying evidence ("the public doesn't need to wear masks" back in March is a good example). It actually wasn't really that hard to dig in to the underlying evidence, assess the validity of that evidence, and make up your mind for yourself.
This has been pretty evident in the past year when the experts have often been wrong, or at least pushed their opinions in a way that wasn't really supported by the underlying evidence ("the public doesn't need to wear masks" back in March is a good example). It actually wasn't really that hard to dig in to the underlying evidence, assess the validity of that evidence, and make up your mind for yourself.