OW v. AOW

[TekDiveGirl]

The solution is teach independently.

Personally, I think in many cases independant instructors are much better than ones that teach out of a shop. They are much more able to do what they want. They are not stuck having to wear what gear the shop wants them to. Sell gear to the students that the shop required them to sell etc...

Of course the Instrustor has to teach within the standards of their agency, but those are the confines. From there s/he then has the freedom to make his own schedule and be sure he teachs everything up to his standards and not to the time table somebody arbitraily sets for him.

Thats not to say there are not a lot of great instructors attached to a shop. But there are a lot who will sell students the shop gear - because it is what the shop sells. Not because it is what the student needs.

Many will push students through on a set time table - because that is the time they have set aside. Sorry we only have x hours for this skill, lets get it done.

Kimber

 

[TCDiver1]

Personally, I think in many cases independant instructors are much better than ones that teach out of a shop. They are much more able to do what they want. They are not stuck having to wear what gear the shop wants them to. Sell gear to the students that the shop required them to sell etc...

Of course the Instrustor has to teach within the standards of their agency, but those are the confines. From there s/he then has the freedom to make his own schedule and be sure he teachs everything up to his standards and not to the time table somebody arbitraily sets for him.

Thats not to say there are not a lot of great instructors attached to a shop. But there are a lot who will sell students the shop gear - because it is what the shop sells. Not because it is what the student needs.

Many will push students through on a set time table - because that is the time they have set aside. Sorry we only have x hours for this skill, lets get it done.

Kimber

Unfortunately, i have found most of what you have said here to be all too true from experience. Especially if the LDS owner is not a certified instructor. I do teach through shops at times but will quit teaching the day i am 'required' to affliate with a shop to teach.

But i still tend to agree with Dorsetboy, plenty of room for compromise and different approaches to this sport IMO.

 

[The Kraken]

While my OW classes were quite acceptable from an instruction/cirriculum standpoint, I was somewhat taken aback when, at the beginning of the class, the instructor stated, "When you finish this class you will be a certified scuba diver."

I think that the payment of fees to take classes have become misconstrued to the point that many students feel that the cost of the class is payment if full for a certification card.

I do feel for the dive masters and instructors that are caught up in the LDS's suck 'em in, shove 'em out dive certification programs.

 

[TekDiveGirl]

While my OW classes were quite acceptable from an instruction/cirriculum standpoint, I was somewhat taken aback when, at the beginning of the class, the instructor stated, "When you finish this class you will be a certified scuba diver."

I think that the payment of fees to take classes have become misconstrued to the point that many students feel that the cost of the class is payment if full for a certification card.

I do feel for the dive masters and instructors that are caught up in the LDS's suck 'em in, shove 'em out dive certification programs.

I know some instructors who will actually take extra time if necessary and help out students - outside of the time that the dive shop has alotted if necessary to get them the instruction needed to pass the skills properly. An extra pool session. An extra open water dive. An extra couple hours in the classroom. Just because that student just was not getting it.

But then I have also seen instructors who sign that card when students clearly are not ready to be out diving on their own too - just because the time is up and they figure they were not getting paid for this time so they were not doing anything extra.

Kimber

 

[StSomewhere]

Many will push students through on a set time table - because that is the time they have set aside. Sorry we only have x hours for this skill, lets get it done.

Wow, really? In the pool sessions for my PADI OW class we had x amount of time to get the skills demonstrated, otherwise you'd have to come back for another session. Three in my class struggled with their pools skills (mask clearing and swimming without the mask, mostly) while the three of us who were ready went on to do our open water dives. That's only fair to everyone. But it was clear from the start that no one went on to do their open waters who hadn't passed the confined water skills, they just had to redo their pool sessions with the next class (no additional charge for the remedial sessions). I would've thought it would be like that everywhere.

Funny that my experience doesn't match any of the PADI horror stories you read about online. Maybe I just got lucky?

 

[DORSETBOY]

Funny that my experience doesn't match any of the PADI horror stories you read about online. Maybe I just got lucky?

I dont get paid to teach so have no axe to grind but I've got my suspicions that a lot of the horror stories are either exagerated, made up, or hear say.. that said I there are real instances of 'horror stories' but an awful lot dont seem to ring true...