Years of Aprenticeship years ago for some careers maybe.
Our society still survives on apprenticeships, we call them internships today. It's a very similar thing, only with a different name.
To my knowledge, never so for school teachers.
Public school teachers generally spend years working up the ladder assisting with classes, making little to no money before they teach our children. So no, they aren't going to school for 4 years and magically getting a classroom full of 8 year old's, that doesn't happen very much. Same goes for our Doctors, they will spend years interning post degree.
The DM course costs in the area of $1,000 and takes weeks to months to complete. IDC takes less time and costs more.
Yep and it was a pre-requisite for me to become an instructor 13 years ago. I couldn't even take the ICD without it.
So, how much time and money should go into becoming a scuba instructor?
In my vision, you shouldn't be able to take the course without demonstrating a minimal of 5 years diving and hundreds of logged dives. The course director should test any new candidate before they even sign up for the course. Dive Master should be a mandatory course and everyone who becomes an instructor should have served time on a boat OR helped with open water classes prior to signing up and have proof.
Training should be a course director and single student, not a bunch of potential IDC candidates. The course director should mentor their new student through hands-on experience with their business, as if they were an employee. When the course director feels happy the student is ready to move on, they will make that call. Eventually, the student will start to teach the classes under the course directors watchful eye. This will allow the fine tuning of the skills performed. Once all of that is done, then the potential IDC candidate can go through the testing procedure. If the candidate is a really good, proficient diver and has all the necessary skills, the time it takes to go through this course could be a few weekends. If they aren't good and need work, maybe it could take upwards of a month or two.
In my eyes, it should be difficult to get through the course. At the end however, the certificate actually means you're prepared for what awaits you. This program will produce excellent instructors, people who are passionate about the sport as well. Price is irrelevant in my eyes, it should be based on how much time it takes you to get the skills down. Drop-out rates will be high as a consequence, but if you're not prepared, you shouldn't be pushed through the course and let out to pasture.
Today, the IDC course is a joke. It's just a more advanced, business-end version of the open water course. I've sat in on some modern ICD courses and I can't believe what I'm seeing. I've been diving with some of those newly crowned instructors and it's just a sad sight. I'm blessed to be around professional divers today and honestly, that description I gave above is exactly how they teach. They actually take pride in this sport, unlike many people who aren't interested in doing the right thing, they're just interested in making money. There is no money in this sport for people who do the right thing. Most of us have full-time jobs outside of diving and are involved in the diving community because we love it so much.