PADI Rocks!!!

[hollywood703]

Well here is my spin on the PADI good/bad issue.....I truly believe PADI is just the medium.....You are going to have crappy instructors in every trade, as well as excellent ones......In this case we are talking PADI....My instructor is certified to teach PADI, NAUI, SSI and i believe its TDI.....He teaches the course the same way for all courses, but he does certify most as PADI, as for the OW they are the most cost effective overall. He doesnt change the way he teaches diving, just because he is certifying thru that agency.....Yes, he has to give the PADI tests as opposed to the NAUI tests, but the basic instruction of how to do Basic Scuba...CESA, OOA, Mask Drills etc....is not taught different thru each agency. Its just a piece of paper.....If you judge all divers based on their certifying agencies, as opposed to the skills they have...then you need to re-evaluate yourself, and why you are stereotyping.

 

[MikeFerrara]

So, you didn't learn to dive then?

PADI provides a framework within which instructors can operate. This framework of standards ensures, in theory, that every student receives at least a minimum level of instruction, as set forth by the RTSC and offers instructors teaching within the standards protection in the event of an accident.

I'm sure you didn't intend it to be but I think your statement might be a little misleading. Many divers seem to have the misconception that the RSTC is some independant oversight organization or something. It isn't. The major training organizations ARE the RSTC. The RSTC is NOT publishing standards that member agencies must follow. Rather member agencies (as the RSTC) are publishing standards that they want to follow.

 

[shekes]

Me learning to dive is my own achievement. If anything I learned it in spite of PADI's existence.
I also learned to swim, walk etc and no one has tried ascribing that to some organization.

I'll check out this book. Thanks!

 

[Scubakevdm]

I'm sure you didn't intend it to be but I think your statement might be a little misleading. Many divers seem to have the misconception that the RSTC is some independant oversight organization or something. It isn't. The major training organizations ARE the RSTC. The RSTC is NOT publishing standards that member agencies must follow. Rather member agencies (as the RSTC) are publishing standards that they want to follow.

I don't know alot about the proceedings of the RSTC, and which members are from which agencies and which way they push the minimums, but it is certainly made up of members from many organizations, not just PADI. The RSTC is, as you point out represents the rec diving industry. Although I would describe it as mostly an agreement, I think that it does offer some degree of oversite in that it allows for a student with a brand X OW card to take a brand Y AOW course. With the measure that RSTC compliance provides brand Y can be sure that certain prerequisite skills have already been taught. Anyway, it definitely falls into the finer points bucket from where I sit.

I haven't read a PADI thread in a long time, I was wondering if you were still on the board!

 

[Walter]

I think that it does offer some degree of oversite in that it allows for a student with a brand X OW card to take a brand Y AOW course.

That was the case long before the RSTC.

With the measure that RSTC compliance provides brand Y can be sure that certain prerequisite skills have already been taught. Anyway, it definitely falls into the finer points bucket from where I sit.

Those minimums are so low as to be irrelevant.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Me learning to dive is my own achievement. If anything I learned it in spite of PADI's existence.
I also learned to swim, walk etc and no one has tried ascribing that to some organization.

I'll check out this book. Thanks!

If you feel as though your instructor didn't play a very large role in your diving, you may want to continue your training with GUE, or at least look into it. Even if you have no inclinations towards technical diving, the DIR-F course is very good, especially for self learners, and challenging enough that you probably won't be bored with it.

 

[shekes]

Thanks again for your concern! But the only time I might look like some some sub-aquatic goth will be at my funeral, and that, by definition, will only happen over my dead body!

For now, if I may, I chose to take advantage of not being a member of the canine family, will enjoy the rainbow in all of its colors and set up my gear accordingly.

 

[Hank49]

Thanks again for your concern! But the only time I might look like some some sub-aquatic goth will be at my funeral, and that, by definition, will only happen over my dead body!

.

You seem rather hard to please when it comes to dive training agencies.....

 

[Scubakevdm]

Those minimums are so low as to be irrelevant.

This may be true, but if this is the case, critiquing a single agency for the trend driven by descisions made by a panel representing many agencies is a narrow path. In fact, I know of agencies that are currently including significantly less than PADI includes in their open water courses.

 

[shekes]

Hank49,

Good one! I'd probably make a miserable slave too.