Bravo, scrane.
I had the less common pleasure of taking SCUBA as a university offering. Taught mainly by a ex-D-day frogman. On the first meeting (A Thursday?) he warned us that we'd have to do 40 laps in the Olympic sized pool on Monday morning and we all quietly stared at each other and said "Did he say 40? Did he really say 40?" and being as it was pre-classes and parties, well, I never did any practice that weekend. And had just come out of three months mainly in the desert, not a lot of swimming. But I figured, wtf, they've got hooks and poles and things and surely, when I stop swimming they'll fish me out right?
Monday comes around, fully half the class (and you needed either seniority or great luck to sign up for it) wasn't there. And the instructor says "OK, everyone in and you need to swim 20 laps and at least half have to be some kind of crawl or..." and we're looking at each other again, "He said *20* today, right? He said 20?!"
AFAIK there were no fails. If you needed work (like, I couldn't handle breathing through my mouth while my nose was open underwater) you got extra time and coaching and someone helped you through it. When we finally were certified, by NASDS, as far as I know everyone passed.
But that's because we were taught by a professional, teaching a skill, concerned with safety, and under no great constraints for time or generating customers. That's not the reality of diving shops today. They break everything down piecemeal, so passing every "nugget" is real easy, and if the result is a diver who's missing some basic skills for a couple of years....well, it keeps the shop in business, and that's a reality that takes priority.
If an instructor isn't passing everyone--isn't the shop owner going to start complaining that he's costing them business?