Aussie240:
You said..."Rather, there should be some education as how to do things correctly instead of keeping wiring standards and practices as part of some kind of secret society."
There are numerous 'how-to' books available, most in public libraries, including the NEC, although that is not a design tool. We also have 'experts' in some big box stores, and they even do demonstrations regularly. Big box stores cater to HO's and look for 'pro trade' also. Restricting sales of materials to 'trade only' will never happen here.
I teach part time at a County Vo-tech, which offers a 'Basic Wiring' course that HO's could sign-up for, twelve weeks @ 1 nite per wk, $120 cost.
Some HO's do a neat, code compliant install that rivals the 'pro'; note I said some; others are nightmares.
And yes, the creativity of some people still amazes me to no end.
