I agree that a lot of us think OW/AOW/Rescue is really what a basic diving education ought to be. If you can get all that done, and realize that, at the end of it, you are educated well but still lacking in experience, I think you'll be in great shape.
TSandM, I couldn't agree more with your first sentence. DevonDiver says essentaially the same thing above. My greater concern is with the premise of your second sentence. People disagree with calling this "zero to hero" - ok, call it "artificially heightened sense of capacity". Or just call it instant gratification. Look, I'm by no means an expert. I've only been diving for 4 years, and I have a great deal more to learn. But I have seen far too many self-proclaimed, and duly certified, "rescue divers" who were a menace to themselves and everyone around them.
Who do we blame? The certification agency? I've read enough to know that you more experienced divers are correct - there was a time when initial training was much more rigorous - when OW/AOW/Rescue were not broken down into bite sized, easy to swallow little pieces. But that was also a time when diving was much more of a "fringe" activity, with far fewer participants, a far steeper learning curve, and much less of a profit motive.
But I can't just blame a corporate profit motive - that is unrealistic. More fundamentally, I see it as a social issue. We are faced with a generation that has no idea what it is to hear "no". Where there are no losers, where everyone always received a trophy for just showing up, and where far too many have an unrealistic sense of infallibility and entitlement.
So, my concern is not in the least with the diver who wants to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible while maintaining a realistic sense of their capabilities - I'm one of those, and I know I have a lot more to learn. I'm far more concerned about those who have convinced themselves, with the willing cooperation of a certification agency that awards the "trophy", that they are now a true blue, bullet-proof "rescue diver" or, just as silly, a "Master Diver". That person worries me - and I can only hope that, if I'm there and the need arises, I can help rescue him when the inevitable occurs.