2. People seem to be jumping into this method without any solid evidence for its effectiveness.
You can't gather that evidence without putting it into practice somewhere, though.
I agree, but this is what evidence-based approaches address. People accept that, overall, evidence-based medicine is the best system we have for treating patients. This is why Mr. Joe can't sell a special elixir that cures cancer, eczema, and old age until he proves that his elixir works as advertised.
IMO, the education field would benefit from adopting this approach. There are too many fads that catch on, burn brightly for a while, and then die when the research finally shows that they don't work. Whole-language reading is one particularly egregious example of this problem.
I agree with your two lower points, though.
