Achieving master diver recognition

[beester]

"elite: best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons."

Depends on your choice of group or class of persons.
-ever scuba dive is a small percent of the total population
-do any diving a year or two past certification is a small part of the diving population
-MSD is a small part of the diving population who dive a bit.

So compared to a just certified diver a MSD might be considered elite. But compared to pro divers or experienced divers, definitely not.

Or to take my own area:
-Very few get a BS in math
-Very few BS in math get a PhD in math
-Very few PhD in math do any research past the PhD
-verify few who do research in math actually have a significant research career that has impact.

So is a PhD in math elite? By my own personal standards, the answer is no way. But I do not have any problem with somebody who gets a PhD in math thinking they are elite. It all depends on who they want to compare themselves with.

Having said that, when a neighbor came up to me a few years ago and told me that they thought that that they and us were somehow special because of advanced degrees I was totally turned off and avoided them in the future.

Note that I distinguish between feeling elite and feeling somehow better than somebody else.

I think I get the definition of "elite"... see my original post about "big fish in very small pond" phenomenon. Your math example is a good one, but just like elite in your example has nothing to do with a degree (but with doing actual research in your field) in my book "elite" has nothing to do with certification but everything with what you do within the scuba world.

I know some very very good (some of them even world renowed) divers. All of them are active in fields related to diving. I know instructors who are on the top of their game in their field, which is training divers, I know explorers that can say they have their name on many cenote maps or literally can say that they discovered a wreck, done the research on it, identified it, etc, I know diving scientists and GPs who are involved in research and the medical side of diving (DAN) and I know very high level photographers, videographers and people experimenting with 3D photogrammetry. Some of them I know very well, others I only spoke with once or twice but always it's been a very humbling experience. They typically are very humble themselves about their achievements, but on the other hand very enthousiastic to share their passion. Such experiences tend to put your feet firmly back on terra firma.

On the other side I have the displeasure of having encountered some big fish in small pond. Typically they "rule their world", being the most experienced of the local club/group of divers and being very brash about it. A clear sign of this type of person is putting too much importance to a certification card...the top of this being certification cards that have no benefit and carry big names like "master scuba diver".

A guy with 200 dives in 10 years stating he is Elite because he has "earned" a master scuba diver cert... well in my book that is just plain silly.

 

[Steve_C]

Actually we may be in agreement. Your complaint is about folks boasting about the MSD. I concur and feel that way about almost anybody boasting.

My concern is to not label all who want to go for a MSD because of the actions of some who have the rating. That standard could be applied to DM or some instructors.