Can someone explain to me what the h*ll this is about??

[Diversauras]

detroit diver once bubbled...


You don't know my skill level or experience. This is BASIC scuba training we're talking about here.

This has nothing to do with enlightenment. These are going to be technical instructors. What does this say to those wishing to take classes from these folks?

or so it would seem based on decostanza's input. If the lexperience evel is so low as an entry into tech instructing then maybe these don't yet have the skills and experience to be off the bottom. I also think there are times when it is apptoprite to be on the bottom, maybe this is one of those times.

I want to get my apologies out right now to all who are really tech instructors. I mean no slight to anyone, I just think that the requirements for entry into PADI tech insctructor are a joke.

boomx5, I should have spelled it out, sorry, minimums, sounds like minimums for AOW...

 

[boomx5]

Diversauras once bubbled...
boomxr, I should have spelled it out, sorry, minimums, sounds like minimums for AOW...

I was trying to understand what you meant.

 

[Allen42]

Not to pick sides, but aren't y'all having a bit too much fun being harsh? Virtually every licensed/accredited/certfication agency has instruction available with a minimum of experience.

I'll bet you can learn to be a pilot from a guy with a "minimum of experience".

I KNOW you can take college classes from someone who knows nothing of his topic.

I can't thing of anything that requires expert amounts of experience to teach it. Most places hiring will substitute experience for education or vice-versa.

You have to be educated to teach, not experienced. It's the experience that can help differentiate teachers.

There are plenty of examples of very experienced but terrible instructors. There are plenty of examples of inexperienced, but very good instructors.

I'm not sure what bashing a picture or organization does for the sport of diving. If you wanna improve things, I suggest you contact PADI Tec politely, and tell them your observations and what it means to your impressions of their offerings.

FWIW, what's wrong with kneeling on a sandy bottom? I do it on the beach all the time. Perhaps they're shallow and there's a bit of surge to contend with. Perhaps they're experienced enough to know that that particulate isn't going to silt up the place. On the other hand, perhaps they're waiting for the sign to "kick like hell" so that they can create a situation. Or, more likely, perhaps they were told, "Go down, kneel on the bottom, and we're gonna shoot some pictures."

C'mon people, let's *promote* the scuba community.

 

[Diversauras]

Allen42, well said.

 

[GlockDiver]

Allen42 once bubbled...
I'll bet you can learn to be a pilot from a guy with a "minimum of experience".

190 hours to be a CFI. :wacko: :wacko: :wacko:

My dive instructor has 27 years of diving experience, and I trust him. He teaches PADI, but the program is not what makes the course.

 

[FredT]

detroit diver once bubbled...
It should go into the humor section if it weren't so sad.

The sad part is that the divers who take courses from these inexperienced ones will believe they actually got adequate training to do technical dives. :wacko:

FT

 

[Walter]

Why act surprised? It's PADI.

 

[detroit diver]

Allen42,

I think you've missed the point.

PADI is looking for techinical divers to instruct technical couses for them. Part of that responsibility is having the skills required to do the job correctly.

The picture (and more importantly-the requirements) tell ANYONE looking at this "ad" that they have no idea what they are talking about.

If you were to market a technical diving course, would you show divers kneeling on the sand? Don't tell me what they MIGHT be doing-show me what is required of the target audience.

In addition, in this "sport", especially in the technical aspects of it, you need BOTH education AND experience. You can't teach it strictly from a book, nor can you teach it strictly from experience if you have no educational background and teaching skills.

This is not a matter of having fun being harsh. It's indicative of many problems in the scuba industry.

Allen42 once bubbled...
Not to pick sides, but aren't y'all having a bit too much fun being harsh? Virtually every licensed/accredited/certfication agency has instruction available with a minimum of experience.

I'll bet you can learn to be a pilot from a guy with a "minimum of experience".

I KNOW you can take college classes from someone who knows nothing of his topic.

I can't thing of anything that requires expert amounts of experience to teach it. Most places hiring will substitute experience for education or vice-versa.

You have to be educated to teach, not experienced. It's the experience that can help differentiate teachers.

There are plenty of examples of very experienced but terrible instructors. There are plenty of examples of inexperienced, but very good instructors.

I'm not sure what bashing a picture or organization does for the sport of diving. If you wanna improve things, I suggest you contact PADI Tec politely, and tell them your observations and what it means to your impressions of their offerings.

FWIW, what's wrong with kneeling on a sandy bottom? I do it on the beach all the time. Perhaps they're shallow and there's a bit of surge to contend with. Perhaps they're experienced enough to know that that particulate isn't going to silt up the place. On the other hand, perhaps they're waiting for the sign to "kick like hell" so that they can create a situation. Or, more likely, perhaps they were told, "Go down, kneel on the bottom, and we're gonna shoot some pictures."

C'mon people, let's *promote* the scuba community.

 

[cornfed]

Allen42 once bubbled...

I KNOW you can take college classes from someone who knows nothing of his topic.

Bull****!! Example?

FWIW, what's wrong with kneeling on a sandy bottom? I do it on the beach all the time. Perhaps they're shallow and there's a bit of surge to contend with. Perhaps they're experienced enough to know that that particulate isn't going to silt up the place. On the other hand, perhaps they're waiting for the sign to "kick like hell" so that they can create a situation. Or, more likely, perhaps they were told, "Go down, kneel on the bottom, and we're gonna shoot some pictures."

I'm sorry but that's just silly. The class is a decompression class. They should be asked to do everything while hovering for purely pedagogical reasons.

Cornfed

 

[MikeFerrara]

I agree that the pictures are a joke but the add doesn't give the requirements to become an instructor. It gives the requirements to begin training (I guess that's what it is)

I have the standards and from mem

270 dives
25 staged decompression dives below 130 ft
nitrox instructor
deep diver instructor
have certified at least 10 divers in deep and/or nitrox

assist with at least two tech classes one of which must be the full tech level (the other one can be the apprentice class).

Take the written exam (given at IE's)

Have a peer skill evaluation form filled out by a PADI instructor who holds an equivilant level certification

Hold an equivilant level cert yourself or take the instructor course.

I might have missed some things but my manual is packed cuz we're moving.

If you guys are really interested in picking apart the standards (like I am LOL) you really should get hold of the actual standards so you hvae a clue what you're arguing about. Besides that I'll bet some of you have read threads before where I've posted the instructor requirements. I've done it a bunvh of times both here and TDS.