Jason ambushed himself....
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Genesis once bubbled...
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To claim that someone is "selfish" for encouraging someone to get out and dive (more) rather than take another class is more than a bit self-serving.
If the OW class was good, that person has a grasp of all of the fundamentals - a good grasp. AOW is then a skill builder, not an experience builder.
If the OW class bit, then AOW may cure that, but the real problem is that the student paid for something they didn't get. In that case the selfishness is on the instructor and/or shop who cut the original certification.
Diver0001 once bubbled...
Our club strongly encourages newly certified divers to take a series of guided dives with a DM after certification.
I know a lot about programming. I can teach someone how to program just fine. However, if someone is interested in writing very good code, I would suggest they take classes/go to college. Why?
College doesn't necessarily just teach how to program, they teach the steps, the reasons, the way to learn, the "proper" forms. There are plenty of people who can hack out code and do ok, but when you're in a professional industry it's very obvious who has a proper education and who does not.
My *opinion* is that the OW class is a little short on supervised dive time and that OW + AOW makes a reasonable intro to diving. I just wish AOW would be renamed to OW2.
I think what you are suggesting is that when PADI created the OW class and opened up dive training to more people by setting the bar where they did they became guilty of some amount of false advertising. Personally I'd prefer to save that accusation for more damning circumstances.
I'd say that the OW class certifies students to dive with a buddy in certain (ideal) conditions. My suggestion to take AOW is to broaden the students horizon/experience level so that they can handle the common, less than idea conditions.
Barro once bubbled...
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Okay, so when you go to file your taxes next year have your accountant teach you about all the tax laws, not just the one's that apply to your return, because some day you may run into them. At the end of that conversation give me a call and let me know how much you remember about your return. THEY HAVE ENOUGH TO REMEMBER RIGHT NOW. Let's try not to overload them when they have fundamental education going on.