Captain wrote
Those that did not train in the era before the octo and BC have no way of judging what is or is not being taught today versus what was taught in the past. Many have said, and I tend to agree that OW and AOW today is less than equal to the one and only certification (Scuba Diver)available then.
Well Captain, I think I qualify as one who IS able to judge by this standard -- at least how today's training compares to what I had 40+ years ago.
Disclaimer -- I have a very small database from which to comment -- I only took one Scuba class 43 years ago at my University. I heard about my dad's NAUI class. I only have been involved with a few classes the past 4 years -- PADI, NAUI, UTD, GUE, TDI and only a few instructors. I am NOT the expert that Thal is for example. This is just from my personal experience.
What was "better" 40 years ago -- "Watermanship" training -- especially the time spent on learning "The Art of Skin...Diving" which was used as a precursor to "The Art of...Scuba Diving." As a result of spending 4 weeks (as I recall) working on our skin diving skills, the mask skills that cause so much trouble with new divers was bypassed.
I honestly don't remember much, if anything, being "taught" about "buoyancy control" but since we had nothing to control our buoyancy except our lungs there probably wasn't all that much to be taught. In the pool you were more-or-less neutral anyway so it wasn't a big deal -- swim down, swim up -- don't hold your breath on the way up.
I definitely wasn't taught anything about "protecting the environment" while diving -- to the contrary, picking coral, collecting shells, grabbing turtles was part of what we did.
And I really could go on.
This is NOT to say that the current OW/AOW classes wouldn't create more competent divers if the instructors actually took the time to establish "mastery" of the basic skills in addition to really working on trim and buoyancy. But, at least in my experience, there is a lot more to learn to be a competent diver today than there was 40 years ago.
I can't help but think that some people may be looking at "The Golden Age" through some foggy lenses.