Based on some of the comments I received after yesterday’s blog post, apparently I didn’t communicate my idea very well, and that’s my own fault. Let me try to expand a bit on yesterday’s topic to hopefully better explain.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a licensed private detective in my day job. I’ve been working in the security and investigation field for almost two decades now. Within the security/investigation field, there are several different certifications one may pursue, some worthwhile, some not worth the paper they are printed on. An example of the former is the CPP (Certified Protection Professional). Offered through the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS), the CPP designation informs clients that the security professional has achieved a high level of training and education in security management. Can someone work in this field without having a CPP? Of course they can. It isn’t any sort of license that would be required to work in security. Instead, what it does is show potential clients that the security professional is serious about their job and is exceedingly knowledgeable in this field.
As it says on the ASIS website, the CPP is the, “Preeminent designation awarded to individuals whose primary responsibilities are in security management and who have demonstrated advanced knowledge in security solutions and best business practices.”
That’s sort of the idea I’ve been kicking around. Would having such a certification for those who seek to teach prepping related skills be worthwhile? At no point in yesterday’s blog post did I even hint at the idea of an average prepper wanting or needing such a certification. I want to make that point clear as obviously OPSEC is a concern for many preppers.
Let me address some of the specific comments I received.
Who is to judge who is “qualified”? Certifications will only bring divisions to our purpose. It is like the NG Prepper series where they have “experts” judge someone’s preparedness. Who are they to judge and why don’t we see the expert’s preps?
Well, the NG Prepper series and their purported experts is one of the things I was thinking about when I came up with this idea. Indeed, who are they to judge? What are their qualifications? I find it interesting that on many of these prepper type of shows, the experts are never really discussed. I’ve done enough digging to find out the name of their company but the last time I checked at least, information about the principals was decidedly lacking.
NO! Doing so would only invite the government to come in and regulate prepping. Next you’ll receive a citation or arresting for prepping without a permit/certificate.
Again, I’m not at all talking about requiring some sort of license or certification to prep. Far from it. I’m not even talking about requiring a license or certification to instruct. Instead, I’m thinking, what if there were some sort of recognized certification that would offer an air of legitimacy.
Absolutely not!!!!! Gotta be a government idea to control even more of our lives! That would be worse that gun control, they would be controlling the food…of course, that’s what they want.
As with the CPP designation mentioned earlier, this wouldn’t be a government controlled anything.
Not to mention the fact that most certifications come from those people already established in an industry to prevent competition.
To a degree, I’d agree with that. To go back to the private detective analogy, most states require a license to work as a private investigator. In some places, this is just a matter of paying a fee but in others it requires a passing grade on an exam. In many cases, this exam really does concentrate on the knowledge that would be required to perform the typical duties as an investigator. But, there are a few exams out there that truly are designed to do nothing more than keep people from passing them, at least not the first time out. I sat through one a few years back that consisted of a little less than 100 questions and perhaps a dozen of them actually pertained to the profession. So yeah, I understand the comment about trying to limit competition. But, with that said, I think most would agree there is a LOT of bad information out there, being written or presented by people who have not one real clue what they are doing.
In my opinion the answer would be “No” I say that because at least for me, and in my mind should also be for others, a fairly private thing. You learn by doing, gathering information from trusted sources / friends etc… and call it paranoia, but you never advertise your prepping. Going to a school or taking any kind of formal class on the subject while a newbie is likely to get good information, or at least a nudge in the right direction on how and where to start, classes and or instructors will do little more than advertise your intentions.
I don’t know that attending a class is “advertising” you’re prepping. Those of us who do regularly teach these types of classes are already “out there” in the public eye so being certified wouldn’t really be revealing much of anything.
To recap the basic points:
–The certification wouldn’t be required to teach at all. It would just be a means of showing the instructor has achieved a certain level of knowledge and experience.
–The certification wouldn’t at all apply to someone who wants to prep. No one, least of all myself, is suggesting a person would need to be licensed or certified to prep.
–This isn’t something that would be run by the government in any way.
Does that all help clear things up a bit?
