Each shop is going to benefit from sounding like they are better than others for the new student. If a large enough number of Scubaboard Divers feels that there is a huge advantage in an Instructor being skilled with both jacket style BC and with bp/wing systems....in being more well rounded for the interests of the local students...then this mindset will ultimately be distributed and accepted by large numbers of the new student population...opposing views will find their proponents as well in a sub-population of this potential new pool of dive students.
Perhaps there would be a real advantage, in good shops being both a PADI Shop, and say an NASE or SEI or some other agency...This would allow the shop to have BOTH the highest "name recognition" in a dive instruction agency, AND,
a certification that establishes a high degree of skill and abilities in the specific needs of the potential student divers at these dive shops...
What is the downside for a dive shop, or, a Dive REsort, in having both a major agency affiliation like PADI, and another that could impart a better expectation of ideal skills to it's students? For the "Word of Mouth" referrals that are the "bread and butter" for the good dive shops, I would think this might be a good direction to explore.
For the highly skilled PADI or NAUI instructor, getting a crossover to something like NASE, where the objective is really to PROVE that certain special skills exist, is not all that much more involved than proving those extra skills.
The crossover itself, for the well skilled instructor, is no big deal....For the poor instructors that have to kneel in the sand to do their drills....they might be in for a rough ride
And rightly so
I get what you are trying to convey Dan,
But WHY would a shop that has invested time, effort, money, etc. into becoming a PADI shop want to also become affiliated with another agency?
Why should an Instructor want to do that? Just to "prove" they have a higher skill set?
I would cross over IF there were other goals I wanted to accomplish...but I certainly wouldn't cross over to some other agency only to "prove" I have a higher skill set to somebody.
Frankly, I had all of my $hit in one sock before becoming an Instructor.
I chose PADI because that is often what most bases that I have been to want when you are looking to teach on a military base.
Another reason is so I can teach independently.
I don't need an Agency to give me credibility, It's up to me to provide that credibility for myself.
I get your point......but it's misplaced I believe.
It's as if you are saying the only way a PADI shop or Instructor can be "anointed" as being credible is is they had another cert to give legitimacy.
I don't agree with that.
I will say that I am all too aware of the negative perceptions about PADI and instruction quality from some shops and instructors.
I've said it before.....I have taken plenty of kicks at the "PADI ball".
When it became time for me to choose who to become an Instructor with, I was well aware of the negative perceptions.
I also had enough experience traveling around to know that not all Instructors taught in a "crash course" style.
I wasn't going to let any perceived negative opinions about an agency sway my personal decision on what I was going to choose. I took an objective view and made my decision.
Back to the point. The way to gain credibility is to demonstrate it, I don't need to get a crossover done with anyone's pet agency just to gain credibility.
At a higher level than that, I really don't see why most shops would want to do that either.
As I said, I'll pursue a crossover when it suits my personal goals, NOT merely to gain internet approval from PADI critics.
Not every PADI Instructor is a knees-in-the-sand style of Instructor. Not myself nor quite a few others that I have met along the way.
They are out there; I realize they are, but you are kidding yourself if you think every PADI Instructor IS that way. Or that they don't exist in other agencies.
I'm confident EVERY recreational agency had Instructors in their ranks that are spending plenty of time on their knees.
I don't want to hear any disingenuous "tales" about YMCA/SEI. I was YMCA (OW2) trained. It was very good; better than my original PADI OW course (due to the Instructor)
Guess what?....skills were done on the knees in the YMCA course too. I am quite confident that it's still done that way.
When the echo of the chest thumping fades away, I realize there is quite a bit of revisionist history being thrown around on these threads.
I see your point Dan,
But the only reason a shop should also become a shop with another agency would be if they felt they wanted to offer something that wasn't being offered under their current affiliation.....not to gain some sort of credibility.
It's an interesting thread.
I'm reluctant to participate due to the fact that some posts just get deleted.
Everybody here is grown.
Cheers,
Mitch
