Instructor Requirements- continued...

[MikeFerrara]

Mike,

I've always looked up to you, but now I'm starting to think that you've turned sour. I hope you find a way to renew your drive.

If by sour you mean that there are some agencies and manufacturers that I'll have nothing to do with and have nothing good to say about then yes I am sour. And I think they get people hurt too.

And yes, I wonder what prospective divers and novice divers think of this exchange. What is all this nonsense about standards and cutting corners and business expenses?

These things effect the type and quality of the class you'll get. Why not educate people?

Is the theory behind diving so complicated that it takes college grads to teach it?

I don't think it takes a college grad

Are most instructors incompetents?

I believe many are...most? I can't say...but lots

Are dive shops rip off artists?

Artists? no. To be honest I think they're in a tough spot. The business model depends on them being willing to offer classes as a loss leader. The shop who tries to buck that has a tough nut to crack. It also depends on having instructors who will work really cheap. They can't set the requirements too high or they won't have any one to do it.

People, get real please. No it isn't all that difficult. Most courses are good and are aimed at a broad public. Most instructors are good and will do all they can to teach you how to become a diver within the scope of the course. The kind of mystification we're witnessing here is counterproductive. For the umpteenth time: it isn't rocket science.

I disagree that most courses are good.

And hey guys, here's another piece of mystification to think about: you often see the advice that a prospective diver would be wise to choose an instructor who has certified at least x (fill in your own number, please) divers.

I don't think your decision to hire or not hire an instructor should be based on how many certs they've issued.

 

[Scubakevdm]

a masters degree in special education is all going to help me train better dive instructors??

Ha! Sounds like you are perfectly qualified to me.

Hi Mike.

So, I just have to go along with Opinion girl sorta. Except I have to let the consumer own a bit of the responsibility in this too, they are after all the ones who make the assembly line scuba schools possible right? I mean those schools are shady, and certainly can't love diving... clearly they love money BUT it's the guy who wants to dive for only 99 bucks that makes it happen. In the end you get what you pay for.

Also, all of the skills and prerequisites you guys came up with don't matter much if the instructor doesn't take any pride in his work, or if they don't love diving. These two traits are certainly not agency specific.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

In PADI you have to be a diver for six months before attempting instructor training

Not being a PADI instructor, I'm not versed in their instructor requirements ... however, I personally know of two people who went from OW to PADI instructor in less than six months. One of them was, literally, a certified instructor three months after she certified OW. And I know for a fact that she was doing ten to twelve 20-minute dives per week-end in order to get her "numbers" up to the point where she would qualify to complete her instructor training.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[FatCat]

Not being a PADI instructor, I'm not versed in their instructor requirements ... however, I personally know of two people who went from OW to PADI instructor in less than six months. One of them was, literally, a certified instructor three months after she certified OW. And I know for a fact that she was doing ten to twelve 20-minute dives per week-end in order to get her "numbers" up to the point where she would qualify to complete her instructor training.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

File a QA then. Go on, don't hang around here saying "I saw this...", get an e-mail out to PADI. Now. Stat.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

File a QA then. Go on, don't hang around here saying "I saw this...", get an e-mail out to PADI. Now. Stat.

If PADI can't police their own, it's not my problem ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Scubakevdm]

If PADI can't police their own, it's not my problem ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Clearly that was a problem with the instructor candidate, and not the agency. I don't know how it could happen without the candidate cheating the dates or something.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Clearly that was a problem with the instructor candidate, and not the agency.

I was asking whether the 6-month experience was really a requirement ... because if it is, it's not being enforced.

Whether that's an agency issue or not wasn't really the question.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Scubakevdm]

I was asking whether the 6-month experience was really a requirement ... because if it is, it's not being enforced.

Whether that's an agency issue or not wasn't really the question.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I edited my post while you were getting this out, sorry.

 

[FatCat]

If PADI can't police their own, it's not my problem ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Then don't whine.

 

[Diver0001]

Then don't whine.

That's cheap. I, for one, do not agree with you that if everyone reported everything they saw going wrong that things would improve. What that would do is increase the amount of background noise to such high levels that the worst problems would become completely invisible.

It's clear that PADI's QA can't cope as it is and I don't see how overloading the system with this kind of complaint is going to help. To make an analogy, you want to create a blizzard while they're busy trying to catch snowflakes on their tongue.

PADI is a company that defines quality by following process. What Bob saw, for better or worse, was probably not a standards violation. And there's the rub. Some things are unethical, dubious and maybe even plain stupid without being standards vilolations. And if it's not a standards violation it doesn't matter one tiny little bit how vehemently some random individual disagrees with it.

R..