Good reasons why you should not do your DM/IDC/IE in the PADI Asia area

[bfw]

I must thank Mauifish for a fascinating post. You appear to be of the opinion that the one-third of the human race who live in the Asia-Pacific area have low morals,

Not necessarily. I read it as implying that MOST people EVERYWHERE share a corrupt nature and that those in Asia are too far removed from the PADI Board of Directors for meaningful oversight. The Board are the ones whose capital is tied up in PADI's reputation, and thus, they're the only ones whose long term self interest is really on the line.

It's no different than what I've observed as a customer of Taco Bell. Under Pepsico, Taco Bell didn't franchise - they were all company stores. Now, under Yum! Brands, they do franchise, and, if you want good service and food quality, the best bet is to find a franchise. Why? Because there's somebody local with a real stake.

 

[J.R.]

... wow, this thread is better than re-runs of WWF...

 

[String]

It is worth pointing out to anyone that hasn't noticed that the thread is 2 years old and the original poster hasn't looked on in a year.

 

[NudeDiver]

It is worth pointing out to anyone that hasn't noticed that the thread is 2 years old and the original poster hasn't looked on in a year.

Why should that matter? Kennedy was killed a LOOOOOOONG time ago, many of the major players involved are dead - but people still like to talk about it

 

[J.R.]

It is worth pointing out to anyone that hasn't noticed that the thread is 2 years old and the original poster hasn't looked on in a year.

Hence the 'rerun' comment...

 

[shoredivr]

bfw seems to have a fetish for adding "relish or dreck" to old threads...

Bored? Can't read dates? What?

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/28017-kicked-out-nitrox-class-20.html

Actually, maybe bfw doesn't understand how boards work. I'm out of here, don't need to add to the waste of time.

 

[Diver0001]

Their experience is not shared by me, nor any of the other instructors I know and work with in Thailand, nor indeed any of the instructors I have personally trained, or that have been trained by my colleagues and associates at any of the dive shops in Thailand.

I don't know what the op's problem is either but even his description of getting brushed off by PADI is more or less in line with the facts then he's still filling in the motivations and the things he says are highly inconsistent with PADI's way of working.

On the topic of training in the Asia region: I don't want to draw any general conclusions but every single diver I've had in Holland (ordinarily for scuba reviews) that made me think "oh..my..GOD... how did this person ever get certified" was trained in Thailand.

More than 1/2 of the ones I've seen didn't complete all of the confined water skills; for example, breathing from the free flowing regulator is a skill evidently commonly skipped. Surface skills, decoupling the inflator hose and several other examples I can think of are skills commonly not taught well enough that (in any case) the student can remember having seen it.

Logbooks are not in order, things are not signed off, residual issues (occasionally quite serious) with skills like mask clearing are more the norm than the exception and generally these students just look chaotic under water. This is the "normal" look of someone who has been trained in Thailand unless they already have 20 dives behind them and somehow managed to survive that.

I did, however, have one student who was certified in Thailand who had learned everything and looked good in the water. It was such an exception to the "rule" that it stuck out in my mind. I even thought.... "Hmm.... there must be someone new working at the dive centre where these Dutch people go...."

It might just be one or two resorts or dive schools frequented by Dutch clients (I think in fact that this is very likely the case) so I don't know how wide spread this phenomenon is but it's bad enough that I use these examples as a matter of due dilligence to discourage my Dutch clients from taking any continuing ed courses in Thailand on vacation.

R..