I don't think it's counter productive at all. There was a period of time, when the appendix was (absurdly) considered vestigial, that surgeons would remove the appendix as a side quest if they happened to have the area opened for some other purpose.

That was a terrible idea, but one that was supported by science at the time. There are practical reasons to be skeptical about scientific assumptions.

Science becomes less wrong faster if we allow history to remind us that a lot of what we believe will likely turn out to be wrong.