Easy. The average person would get more useful knowledge from a business class than calculus 2. On the other end of the spectrum, a linguistics class is useless.

Dave, you are right on. We had grandparent's day at the high school last week. My grandson's Advanced algebra and second year Spanish

classes were wasted on me. 55 years later and my favorite classes are still the same....study hall and lunch!

In 36 years of doing this stuff I have never been asked by a customer if I am certified by NWCOA or ANYONE. Insurance and business lic yes. What university did I attend may be asked also. even my state Fish and Wildlife folks have never asked me if I am certified. I think that the only folks that really think about certification or care for the most part is those that are in the field. Certification is good, I guess, even though I am not paper certified in wildlife control by anyone, I am a state certified snaring and trapping instructor. certified in bird Barriers, certified Chemical immobilization for animal control and certified rodent something or other LOL. Again when I say this most of you could care less that I am certified with the aforementioned. Why? because it means nothing to most, that's nice but so what. Does it mean I am good with snares and know what to do with them or does it mean I have passed a test and have a head knowledge about the subject matter?

I give a lot of lectures and attend a lot of them also. I give instructions and training and have taken many also. try to take at least one training of some sort each year, so you can see I am always looking to learn. But if that head know how that comes from certification does not shift from head to doing what that person knows, then it is just a waste of time and effort. looks good but a waste. I will give you an example. Two weekends ago and again this coming weekend I will be giving the state trapper training course, it is a 2 full day course where there is a test at the end. Many will pass with a 90 to 100% yet many of those when it comes time to put that learned knowledge into practice they will come up very short. Many will in months to come call me with problems that they know what to do test wise yet putting it into practice gets lost. Bob J knows what I am saying here I am sure. The same is true with ADC folks and certification. The know how many times never gets to the doing part. So in fact the Certification is nothing more than a marketing plus. Again I may be sounding like I am against certification!! I am not. Just in real life it does not make a person better than a non certified person. Most of the old dogs in this business could care less about certification even if they are certified. As many have stated in the previous posts, it is not the paper it is knowledge going from the head to the hands that seals the deal.

Anyone can attend a class and listen ( or at least pretend to ) to the instructor. When you are the instructor things change. You

have to master the subject well enough to answer any and all questions. Several of us on T-man have been instructors or given

presentations at seminars. I once did a joint presentation with my son at a seminar and he blew me out of the water. That's what

happens when you graduate college with a teaching degree. ( And keep in mind, my favorite subjects were study hall and lunch )

I have read some crazy threads on TMAN.....and listened to some not so well thought out presentations. Just saying...there can be more education.

T man is one of the best resources out there.

I could call a lot of you a get the problem solved if need be.

Lucky for me I had almost 20 years in contracting before I started doing this.

You can never make a stupid person capable.. And you are never going to stop a "shady" person from performing extortion?

Book education,,,,,,,sure I wish I had more for "other" ventures, but for this gig,,,,,,give me someone who can sell without being a rip off
construction experience (roofing is great)
Non drinker
No family

Wow! I think Vinke has read my life history. I can sell a job and usually the only one who gets ripped off is me.

I used to roof.

And my wife told me if I didn't quit drinking I would no longer have a family.

I'm like Vinke's nightmare come true.