all apart from a few of my elders have been trained in 3 skills legitimately, the odd few got one skill from the gong, but the greater majority have trained. i have 5 more villagers who have mastered 3 skills and only one of them got one skill from the gong. it seems unfair that you spend the time training up your villagers to elder status and be limited to a specific number, just what else is there to do with the game when you reach that stage. i disagree that you can't get more than 50 by training your villagers because i have done it, i now have 56 in total who have completed 3 skills, i don't know if you are inferring that i am cheating and i really hope you are not, because i assure you i have trained my villagers using only legitimate means.