What happened to PADI?

[DIVE-A-MUK]

I was certified in '83 and dove fairly regularly for a couple of years.
Then i got married, started a family .... And the importance of diving took a back seat. Actually it wasn't on the bus at all.
My son just turned 17 and has completed his ow cert. I took the coarse as a refresher along with him.
To cut to the chase... I am horrified at how padi has dumbed down the open water coarse material and the training requirements.
After every class, i left wondering " where's the beef" ?? And my poor son had to endure physics lessons on the drive home, after every class.
When i asked the " instructors " about topics and skills that were not covered, they looked at me as if i had two heads. Their reply was "oh, that's all advanced and divemaster material now " !! I just wanted to turn a few of them over my knee .
Any other old timers out there ? What's happening?

 

[Don Wray]

Which topics and which skills? Welcome to the board.

 

[Jim Ernst]

Oh..... Boy...

This could get interesting

Hey welcome to scubaboard , And I also am wondering what all did you find missing.

I am aware of a lot that has changed as my past girlfriend/now Friends"s Mother was a PADI DM back in the 80"s and was with Shannon and I when we were certified and she could not Believe the changes as well.

 

[Captain Walt]

I call shot gun...LOL. I am curious what skills did you find missing and physics?? How much diving is fairly regular and where; I am sure we have a different opinion on that? I agree with challenging the student. But there is such a wide range of personality types out there that in order for our industry to survivor it has to become extremely conservative. You can teach the basic skill set through repetition and have the student build from there. It may not be as hard as it used to be but what is. I know the teaching material very well and I believe it is more than adequate for today's wannabe diver. The OW course material is always under revue. Years and years of experience have gone into deciding what is needed and what is not. Divers that dive on a fairly regular basis consistently for years make the curriculum.

"How many RANGER's does it take to change a light bulb?"
"A hole team....one to change the bulb and the rest standing around say'n haw hard it used to be."

 

[Walter]

What's happening?

Actually, you probably just had an excellent instructor in '83 and a typical one recently. By '83 PADI had already cut their standards. To be sure, they've cut them even more since then, but most of the damage had already taken place by '83.

It may not be as hard as it used to be but what is.

It's harder than it used to be. Adding in skills, adding in more building steps up to those skills, adding in more time, makes the class easier. It's easier for both students and instructors. It takes more time, so number of certifications and therefore profits go down. On the plus side safety goes up. Safety vs bigger profit? I always chose safety. A few agencies still write standards that way. Most have written their standards to speed up the process - safety be damned.

 

[DIVE-A-MUK]

Let me begin by stating that, my renewed interest in diving has quickly moved on to love, boadering on addiction and i'm not being synical. I am genuinly concerned for the safety of all new divers. And as far as for my sons safety my concern is passionate. ( to over state the obvious )
over all the basic skills and material are still there. The depht at which the are studied aren't.
I actually took my first ow class at purdue university in 1981. Couldn't return and lost my documentation, for referral to open water dives and retook it all in 1983
in both i remember the class room study was much more detailed and went into boyles law, charles law, daltons law, henerys law, and of coarse murphys law.
We " studied mass & density of liquids , gasses, & solids as it relates to buoyancy & decompression.
We also spent a considerable amount of time in lecture and films ( and yes the films were talkies )covering underwater plants , animals, & corals their potiental dangers ( if any )
in the pool we spent and entire session swimming, ie different strokes to relieve and avoid cramps and snorkling skills. All of our equipment was placed at the bottom of a 10' pool and we went down and dawned it.
Our instructors would have us diving in the pool and unexpectedly remove our mask or reg or fin. The all was repeated in the ow cert dives.
Granted,the possible need to buddy breathing off of one reg has been eliminated for all practical purposes, with the advancement in gear ( octo's )
it seems that padi has regressed to a " if - then " sort of training.
A wise ol' man ( my father ) once told me
"a good education is 10% how and 90% why"

tankx for the replies
tom
ps: To don, great signature
pss: To jim, did she approve ?
Psss: To everyone, please forgive my spelling & grammer

 

[Captain Walt]

Walter....My saying "It's the operator not the (fill in the blank)." I agree the instructor makes the program.

 

[Rick Inman]

Dive-a-muk, welcome to ScubaBoard! And welcome back to diving.

Sounds like you are interested in making sure your son has a more complete dive education and training than the class provided - and good on you for that!

Being new to the board, you may not know that, the topic of agency training quality and it's decline over the years, has been discussed in hundreds of posts that now reside on the board for your reading pleasure. It's one of those "hot topics" that has been discussed ad nauseum, but still comes up on a regular basis. So, you may not know it, but your introduction post is the equivalent of walking into someone's house, blasting off a shotgun and saying, "Hi! I'm here."

You got our attention.

As to spelling - mine suks. So I have installed ieSpell, and before I hit the Post Reply button, I click the little check mark-ABC in the upper right corner of the post box, and that helps me a lot.

See you on the board!

Rick

 

[Captain Walt]

Well there we have the point of the spear. College course. A hole semester to teach. I understand your passion about your sons safety. My daughter is 15 and has been diving seance she was 8 years old.

Boyle's law, Charles, Dalton's, Henry's and yes of course Murphy's law. All are part of the curriculum and should be taught.

You can not compare the experience diving with your son to anything. My daughter lives in Hawaii and so has weaned away from depending on her Dad. She has many atlantic coast offshore dives. She is a good diver (it is hard for me but I taught her to take care of herself) and one that takes care of other divers.

Their is no room for girl push-ups in life...that is a mind set that holds the human spirit back. It is good that you take it serious...good luck and have fun with the adventure.

 

[Captain Walt]

By the way, welcome to the board Diver...