Can someone please explain this oddity to me?

[Thalassamania]

Would it be better if PADI changed the name to " more experienced and trained diver than a lot of other divers"?

Yes, that would be more honest.

 

[The Kraken]

Shakey,

I love your post . . .
. . . but as that to which you alluded, may I quote the bard, Bob Dylan, "The Times, They Are a Changin'"

the K

 

[TheFoggyMask]

Would it be better if PADI changed the name to " more experienced and trained diver than a lot of other divers"?

 

[Web Monkey]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Schlink
Would it be better if PADI changed the name to " more experienced and trained diver than a lot of other divers"?

Yes, that would be more honest.

I liked my new card-naming scheme, although for some reason, it never caught on:

• Probabably won't die
• Probably will be OK
• Might be able to help someone else
• Able to help someone else
• Able to teach
• Able to teach and do a really good job of it

Terry

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

Shakey,

I love your post . . .
. . . but as that to which you alluded, may I quote the bard, Bob Dylan, "The Times, They Are a Changin'"

the K

Yes, for adults too. I remember a standup comedian asking rhetorically: what happened between his father's generation and his own? How did we become such incompetent wimps? The comedian went on:

My father would come in the living room wiping his hands and say "well, I got the new breaker box installed, now to snake out the toilet and, if I have enough time, I'll drop the engine in the truck and change the flywheel"... and me, asked the comedian? I con't figure out how to set the time on my VCR... and then, my dad worked two jobs... and me? If I go to the dry cleaners and bank in one afternoon, I need a nap...

---------------------------
Speaking of comedians:

I look at adult movies and French cookbooks the same way --- "yes, that looks interesting, but it ain't happening in this house" -- Rita Rudner

 

[cerich]

Anthropolgist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond spent time in New Guinea with the most "primitive" tribe on earth...he awakened early one morning to see twin boys, about 12 years old or less, take a canoe out onto the predator and snake infested local river (while the adults slept). One boy leaned on a pole stuck in the bottom to hold the boat against the current, the other began spearing fish. Once they had caught the family breakfast, they paddled back and began cleaning their catch. Diamond, father of twins the same age, was amazed at the prowess of these boys and the danger they faced daily; he noted that our children lack this sort of skill/daring because we made them the way they are, not because 12 year olds are intrinsically incapable of adult responsibilities and tasks.

Prior to the 20th century, there were two types of people --- children (12 and under) and adults (everyone else). The idea of that rebellious, harebrained, unreliable and useless period known as adolescence is a modern fiction.

I'm not saying I agree with thrusting 12 year olds into adult roles, not at all. I'm simply saying that evaluation of other cultures, present and past, will reveal that "children" can do amazing things if we let them.

Good post and I agree with the conclusions drawn. Do we have more than a dozen 12 year olds like this in this contry of 300 million?

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

In my hometown, just yesterday, a ten year old boy got into the car and determined his parents were too drunk to drive. He tried to stop them, and when he couldn't, bolted from the car and sought help. The father abandoned the car, and the wife, and went to a friend's house. The police arrested the mother... indeed, they were both drunk and, in the father's case, on drugs as well. Can you imagine a child in this situation, yet he handled it with a courage that few adults could muster.

I've had the misfortune of taking care of children with brain tumors and have seen how danger and death can make adults out of children. You haven't lived until you've been approached by a seven-year old with a grim look on his face and been asked "what does my scan look like today?" Children that should be watching Barney, instead become fixated on their platelet counts.

None of this is pretty and we all hope our children never have to grow up early, or at all, but the capacity for mature behavior lurks in more children than we realize.

So let them dive. One thing I've learned, no one is promised tomorrow, not at any age.

 

[CAPNVINNY]

Would it make PADI look better if they changed their ideas...say you can't be an Instructor till your umm.. 35,because you lack the maturity to accept that much responsibility? Its just an age,can many 12 year olds meet the qualifications of a Master Scuba Diver?probably not many.Should this exclude the few that can?I don't think so. My 13 year old is much better in the water than half the advanced students I get,can he dive to that level?not yet....maybe soon though..

 

[Thalassamania]

Good post and I agree with the conclusions drawn. Do we have more than a dozen 12 year olds like this in this contry of 300 million?

No, because the things that you'd have to do/not do would be classified as abuse/neglect in present society.

Would it make PADI look better if they changed their ideas...say you can't be an Instructor till your umm.. 35,because you lack the maturity to accept that much responsibility? Its just an age,can many 12 year olds meet the qualifications of a Master Scuba Diver?probably not many.Should this exclude the few that can?I don't think so. My 13 year old is much better in the water than half the advanced students I get,can he dive to that level?not yet....maybe soon though..?

I thought it was a better world when you had to 21 and have 100 dives before you entered instructor training. The course name thing is like grade inflation, it makes things meaningless.

Anyway ...

When I was a child (and I mean child, 6 to 12) I sent my summers in Wrightsville Beach, NC. A neighborhood friend who was my age and I spent all day every day, from after breakfast till sundown crabbing, oystering, line fishing, beach seining, snorkeling and spear-fishing and we sold most of our catch to the local fish market. We had a little aluminum punt with a little outboard and complete freedom to go anywhere we wanted on the sound. But we had grown into it, starting with trips with adults and teen relations when we were really small.

I'd never turn my 10 year old loose that way, but then he lacks the kind of experience that we had. He's a great little diver, he can perform all the skills that I expect from my research diving candidates. His math skills are good and he can do all the required calculations by rote, but I don’t think he really “get’s it” yet. At his age I was out diving on my own with another kid my own age, but he’s not had the freedom, to date, to develop the horse-sense to do that.

I worry a bit about my own willingness to &#8220;let go&#8221; and let him learn by experience (not to mention his mom&#8217;s flat out going crazy<G>), and when I should start doing more of that. I guess when he&#8217;s 12 I&#8217;ll send him to a colleague for NAUI Master Diver testing, and if he passes I&#8217;ll have him certified AOW (got to be 15 for Master Diver).

 

[WarrenZ]

Master scuba diver is PADI's attempt to invent a skill level. It is just a piece of paper or is it plastic (anyone know?) that says that you are now a Master Scuba Diver. This is also known as a Diver who paid for lots of classes. OW through Rescue plus 5 specialties. Go for the Dive Master cert that one actually means something as far as new skills.