PADI OW Cert Way Too Easy

[shotthebreeze]

Hey guys,

I just completed my classroom and pool dives this weekend for the PADI OW dive cert course. As a seasoned snorkeler and beach guru, I found this course too leanient on some, if not most of my classmates. Our instructors were marvelous, don't get me wrong, definitely quality people who I would highly reccomend, but the class itself seemed too non chalant for people brand new to the water and who are ultimately risking their lives.

There were 8 of us in class, and I'd say a good half of my classmates had a hard time with the snorkeling, let alone any of the scuba stuff. On the second day most of them used the low pressure inflator hose as an elevator button to the top of the pool, not realizing, yes the ascention was swimmable and that air expands as you rise to the top. They were repremanded, but by the end of the class, wouldn't you think if you haven't honed in on all of your skills, especially getting to the top without the possibility of killing yourself, that you would be taken aside for further instruction or fail? Now I'm not saying that it is the instructors' fault because they did their best to teach all of us at the same speed and level. Is PADI just laid back in general, though?

Any opinions on how your classes were run or any opinions on this in general would be great...

 

[SparticleBrane]

 

[Paco II]

Your post puzzled me. You are very supportive of the instructors, but from what you wrote, it sounded very much like the instructors are not doing what they need to be doing. Or am I being too harsh?

 

[fisherdvm]

You can sign up for SSI, and it is likely the same.....

 

[Teamcasa]

You think that PADI was too easy - try this
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=191955


Dave

 

[The Kraken]

Agencies set standards and protocols.

It is up to the instructor to determine if the dive candiate has "mastered" the skills set forth and is, therefore, worthy og being certified.

If you feel any standards were violated, you can report it to the PADI Quality Assurance board.

the K

 

[Steve R]

Agencies set standards and protocols.

It is up to the instructor to determine if the dive candiate has "mastered" the skills set forth and is, therefore, worthy og being certified.

If you feel any standards were violated, you can report it to the PADI Quality Assurance board.

the K

And when Padi continually and systematically ignores your reports..........you can pound sand like the rest of us.

It's a systemic wide (and produced) problem that's not going away.

Glad the OP has seen it this soon in their dive career. Should make for wiser choices next time.

Kudo's.

 

[shotthebreeze]

I feel that my instructors did their job, as I said before I would highly reccomend them and I will probably continue my dive education with them. Maybe it's what happens when you let people in the water who aren't interested in diving and the health risks involved I guess. You can't blame their carelessness on anyone else but themselves. They mastered the skills, but at the rate they were going who knows if the skills will even stick with them. Hopefully, the open water dives are super strict. I just can't see letting people like that out in the water.

 

[Steve R]

I feel that my instructors did their job, as I said before I would highly reccomend them and I will probably continue my dive education with them. Maybe it's what happens when you let people in the water who aren't interested in diving and the health risks involved I guess. You can't blame their carelessness on anyone else but themselves. They mastered the skills, but at the rate they were going who knows if the skills will even stick with them. Hopefully, the open water dives are super strict. I just can't see letting people like that out in the water.

I want,..........scratch that, I NEED you to let us know how the OW portion is any different than what you've already seen.

Do me a favor and don't let me miss your report after the open water weekend. PM me if you have to, but I want to hear what you have to say about it.

Personally if I see someone who is obviously that careless, and they're holding a cert card at the end of the day, I doubt I'd be blaming them too much, and certainly not at the OW level.

 

[Kingpatzer]

There are at least three ways to look at certification. The first way is that it is a declaration of mastery. If that's how someone chooses look at it, then there is no certification agency out there short of commercial dive schools that come close to doing an adequate job. The second way is that it is a declaration of awareness of basic skills. In which case it should be taken as just that . . . it doesn't mean you are a capable diver. It means you've been able to demonstrate some level of capacity to be an ok diver. There can always be debates about if the threshold is high enough or low enough, but ultimately each agency has to draw some minimum line. The last way is a bit more cynical, but perhaps the most accurate: to provide a liability waiver to whoever rents gear to the guy holding the c-card.

The PADI course is pretty easy. But it's goal is not to make someone a world class diver capable of doing anything at all under-water. The goal is to introduce diving to a minimal level so the person shouldn't kill themselves their first time out without a divemaster provided they stay within their own limits.