The recent presidential race that narrowed the field down to the presumptive RNC and DNC nominee’s of John McCain and Barak Obama. After each televised debate you would then see this army of the ordained “experts” come out of the woodwork to tell us all just what the candidates may or may not have meant by what they may or may not have said. When did we need people to make up our minds for us? If you watched the debates and you heard the candidate’s words and saw their body language, then why do we need someone to tell us what we saw and think? Shouldn’t we have to develop our own knowledge and opinions for ourselves and isn’t that the fun of the journey? Not that we are apparently going to actually witness these two candidates ever engage in an actual debate during a head-to-head debate.

   What about where you work? Diversity training, “self empowerment” gurus, and motivational experts. Joel Osteen, Stephen Covey, and many others are cashing in on the billions of dollars being spent every year by business corporations, government entities and individuals alike. These people have a gift, a gift of charisma no doubt about it, but exactly what makes them “experts” worth millions of dollars. Is it their knowledge and “expertise” or is it an abundance of charisma coupled with an innate intelligence? As so called experts into the human psyche, would they do as well in China or Saudi Arabia? Or would the expertise required to be successful in one of those countries require a different level of “expertise”?        

   Even more to the point is exactly what makes these people true “experts” in what ever subject they are considered experts in? Is there a university that awards diploma’s for being “expert” in what ever you want to fill in the blank subject for. And if there is such a school does my completing the required coursework and classroom assignments actually mean I now have the maturity, experience, intelligence, and just plain old fashioned common sense and real world experience to justify this “expert” status? Who gets to determine who is or is not an expert? The university? The MSM? You or me? Them?

   In law enforcement a “rookie” police officer or agent would have had to have “earned” the ability to be considered an “expert” in identifying persons to be under the influence of drugs or alcoholic beverages. The number and specific requirements varies from state to state and often even within the same state. So an “expert” in one county wouldn’t be considered “expert” enough to testify in another. How can that be? Shouldn’t a person identified as an “expert” truly be an “expert” in a specific field anywhere in the country? Does this mean that there are actually different levels of “experts?” For example, a Beginner Expert, an Intermediate Expert and an Advanced Expert.

   If experts are so knowledgeable then how do we explain the ease with which attorneys are generally able to find those so called experts (pick your subject) who appear on both sides of a criminal or civil courtroom case? How can two such “experts” conduct a carefully detailed and similar “evaluation” of the same person’s mental capacity and then both manage to come to diametrically opposed conclusions?

   If you have spent 20 years of your working life in a specific industry or trade and then your new boss is fresh out of some college or university with his still crisp diploma, but not one days experience of “on the job experience” who is the expert then? The employee with 20 years experience or the individual with the diploma who is the experienced employee’s boss?

   I started working with my father’s ceramic tile installation business when I was 16 and worked in that capacity until I was 21 years old. Long enough to have earned the “journeyman” title which many would claim to be an “expert” designation in the tile installation field, but I never doubted for a moment that I never achieved the craftsmanship, knowledge and experience of my father. He would always be the “master craftsman” whereas I would never be as good. Yet if I had struck out on my own we would have both been deemed “journeymen” in the same specialized field and no one the wiser. No one except me of course.

   What concerns me today is that the more certifications and college degrees that we see being required in more and more fields hasn’t seemed on the whole, to have necessarily made anything better. Not for the expensive cost of a college degree and many of the certifications of today. Instead, despite the often prohibitive cost of such modern “requirements” we seem to be losing knowledge that was once passed from generation to generation with inherent demands that must be met to continue in those fields, and not simply the ability to be able to fork over tens of thousands of dollars and several years of ones life to achieve that degree, without ever having actually having to spend a single day of doing in that field.

   Our country is rapidly losing many of those master craftsmanship skills like my father possessed. More and more of our skilled construction trades are being done by people who wouldn’t have even been allowed to pick up a trowel or a hammer when I was apprenticing under my father. The plus side was a young man or woman could make a very decent wage very quickly along with the satisfaction of having made a significant improvement for the paying customer that would last for many years into the future. Another plus was it didn’t require a college degree or even a high school diploma.

   With our atrocious high school drop out rates of today and the military’s requirements for at least a GED and the ability to score certain minimum scores to be granted admission, just where will these people go for a living? McDonalds? Wal-Mart? My concern is that we are actually ensuring that we will have a nation of millions and millions of people with no means of ever breaking out of their low-income hand-to-mouth existence. How can they ever afford to attend colleges that easily cost $50,000 dollars and more for a four year degree?

1. Do you believe that your knowledge and experience would genuinely be deserving of an “expert” rating?
2. Would your coworkers agree with your self evaluation?
3. Would your subordinates agree?
4. Would your bosses agree?
5. Would your spouse or significant other agree with your answer?
6. What would you consider the primary prerequisites for anyone to be considered an "expert" in your current career field?
7. Do you believe you are currently being paid a “fair” wage for your current level of experience and knowledge, and the complexity required of your job?
8. Does your current job require a minimum level of college or specialized certifications?
9. Finally, do you believe your boss is an expert?

    Obviously this is dependant on your honesty in answering the above listed questions but then you are the only one to know the proper answers. Then again are you an “expert” because you think so or because others thinks so? Does it really matter? I think if you believe you’re an expert then you are as likely to be correct as any other system out there today. So, I am interested -are you an expert?