Public instructor ratings?

[thuffman]

All right, I'm a newbie here, so forgive me if this is covered elsewhere. I've read quite a few posts that suggest a student should do some research to find a good instructor rather than making a distinction between cert. agencies(PADI v. SSI v. NAUI, etc.).
Now, in my case, I walked into a local shop and signed up. During my course, I talked to another local diver who had had a bad experience with my instructor. Personally, I thought they were thorough and safety-oriented. My question (finally):

Is there a place on the web or elsewhere that has ratings of instuctors?

I might have read about a bad experience, and gone to another shop. On the other hand, I would likely give this shop a positive rating.
Thanks, Tim.

 

[wedivebc]

All right, I'm a newbie here, so forgive me if this is covered elsewhere. I've read quite a few posts that suggest a student should do some research to find a good instructor rather than making a distinction between cert. agencies(PADI v. SSI v. NAUI, etc.).
Now, in my case, I walked into a local shop and signed up. During my course, I talked to another local diver who had had a bad experience with my instructor. Personally, I thought they were thorough and safety-oriented. My question (finally):

Is there a place on the web or elsewhere that has ratings of instuctors?

I might have read about a bad experience, and gone to another shop. On the other hand, I would likely give this shop a positive rating.
Thanks, Tim.

And who would rate these instructors? Do you think a peer rating system would be fair and unbiased?

 

[Walter]

Personally, I thought they were thorough and safety-oriented.

Being brand new to the sport, how would you know?

 

[matt_unique]

Being brand new to the sport, how would you know?

Relative to his own experience of course. The same way you opinion could only be based on your experience.

I think it's a great idea. There would certainly be some pitfalls. It would be difficult for it not to become a popularity contest.

In terms of the ageny involvement, are there any quality controls in place now once you become certified as an instructor? For example, does a TDI (insert agency here) Course Director sit/dive in a class for another instructor once a year to evaluate performance? I'm not aware of any such quality controls but I think it would be a great idea. Evaluating the most senior instructors via this method would be difficult though. Who would sit in on instructor X with 8,000 dives? At that level they would each have their own way and tons of experience to back it up.

In either case, I think it would be a good baseline system.

--Matt

 

[Mako Mark]

I think you should evaluate any business that you are thinking of using, whether it is diving related or not.

You would ask a potential investment banker or stock trader what his record of experience and success is right? You would find out how many houses a potential real estate agent sells per year before asking them to sell your house.

Asking a potential dive instructor about their qualifications and experience seems perfectly logical to me. I would probably go as far as to say; ask them "in the event I decided not to contract your services, and you were to reccommend one of your competitors, who would it be?" then go and ask the same question to their competitors. It will become pretty clear who is all bluff and slick sales, and who has a solid reputation.

In the end, research is imperative, buyer beware right?

 

[ScubaFreak]

I bought a car from a salesman and got a great service and a great deal.
My friend bought a different car from the same salesman and he claims he ripped him off.

My point being, my friend can be an a$$ at times, and wouldn't be surprised if he was part of the problem in the first place.

 

[StSomewhere]

Being brand new to the sport, how would you know?

And from what I've seen so far, every new OW diver who didn't hate their instructor thinks their instructor was the world's best. It seems to me that only when you begin to find out what you don't know/didn't learn that you begin to question your OW instruction.

 

[H2Andy]

Is there a place on the web or elsewhere that has ratings of instuctors?

not that i know of. a quick search didn't turn up anything, other than the
zillion local dive shop pages with their instructor's bios.

 

[Walter]

And from what I've seen so far, every new OW diver who didn't hate their instructor thinks their instructor was the world's best. It seems to me that only when you begin to find out what you don't know/didn't learn that you begin to question your OW instruction.

BINGO! We have a BINGO!

 

[thuffman]

So you all get what I'm talking about! Indeed, I had no way of telling if my dive instuctor was all wet or not. My point is, I have seen posts on this board saying "research your local instructor". If you are new to diving, and you walk into a store, can you ask "Are you any good"?
Very salient point about everyone thinking their instuctor is the best! You would want to believe the persons you were trusting were capable! Once a person has a bit of experience, what they did or did not learn would become apparent. I am not unlike most beginners, however, in having no exposure to the sub-world prior to OW. I am completly into diving! In fact I found this board because I could not wait to SCUBA again.
Let's get under! Tim.