DevonDiver
N/A
While I don't think any single rating on a "ratemyprofessor" type site is worth anything. I do believe that the aggregate rating is useful.
Any such site would have to be very carefully constructed - particularly in respect to the specificity of questions asked.
The reason I say this is because the common fallback for shoddy dive educators is to become 'entertainers'.
I see glowing reviews and recommendations all the time for very low-standard dive operations/instructors.
Why? Because people were well entertained on their courses. It's wasn't education, it was merely a 'fun experience'. And that's how, in ignorance, students rate the instructor.
Let me tell you of the instructor (now Course Director) who managed to pit two open water students into a chamber in 12 months (yes, really..) because he'd take them drinking every night.. and used to 'entertain' them by getting them to do loop-the-loops on their safety stops.. Nonetheless, he was hugely popular and well awarded by his agency..
Let me tell you about instructors who were "so sensitive and understanding", which actually meant they just glossed over any skill standards that the student had problems with...
Let me tell you of the dire sausage factory schools in SEAsia that churn out 8 bottom-churning rototilers, per instructor, every 2 days.... but win the highest agency awards... and whose drunken, stoned millennial backpacker clientele rate purely based on "what an awesome, crazy time they had"..
Let me tell you of a generation of bum instructors who dole out cards to woefully incompetent students... and appease them by telling them "you're a great diver and did amazingly... but obviously it's normal you need to get more experience, or do a PPB course.. before you can expect to have reliable buoyancy control.."
The industry has become adept at blowing smoke up student's asses, blame-shifting and substituting education for entertainment.
And that's now become a student expectation... it's become acceptable and expected... It's the norm.
Sometimes I'm inclined to think that the amount of praise received by an instructor, especially in respect to agency 'awards', but also student recommendations, cam be inversely proportional to the ethics, diligence and standards they actually apply in training their students.
And for an honest, ethical, educator that actually (God forbid!) maintains high standards, expects hard work and focus.. challenges and coaches their students to perform better... and dares to fail students or holds them back in training? They'll get complaints a-plenty...
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