Trace, can you guarantee the quality of instruction by every instructor that teaches through PSAI? No, it is too big of an agency to handle at that level, too many courses, too many instructors, not enough quality control as far as instructor recertification, and student evaluations for their class. It's OK, that is an accepted compromise that most every agency has made because as long as you are trending towards the bullseye, that's all that matters but when you have an agency that size it is going to have outliers.
So what is the yardstick you are using? You're a training director for a well respected agency, what makes yours better, and how do you define your yardstick to justify your measurement?
Man, I read this earlier and really hoped I could find a way to answer that wouldn't become a dissertation. I went for a run and a swim thinking about it and to be honest I can't really explain it with brevity other than just give you a compass point toward the direction my mind is going.
An agency holds value for divers seeking training, its professional members, and for the diving community as a whole.
From the training perspective, we can measure an agency by the education it does not provide as well as the education it does provide. If you could only be trained by one agency would GUE be it? Where would that leave freedivers, solo divers, and sidemount divers? For some people, these activities hold little interest. For others, the value is priceless.
For proponents of GUE the argument usually comes down to something like this. The helicopter is the most versatile aircraft in the sky. It can go forward, backward, rotate around 360 degrees, provide a stable platform and do more work. They fair better in crashes and helicopter pilots tend to have more flight hours. Therefore, the only aircraft you'll ever need is a helicopter. In fact, if you go to an aircraft message board you'll hear almost the same argument between pilots as occurs among divers.
The only difference is that no one in those message boards has devalued the skill of fixed-wing pilots like divers tend to devalue those not diving "fundies" style. In the first few minutes of the DIR 3 video George Irvine, Bill Mee, and our Dan Volker talk about how there is no higher plain of diving and give accolades to resort instructors for the exemplary buoyancy, skill and weightless diving they do. What agency do you think most resort divemasters and instructors belong to, if not solely, at least in part?
So, yes, helicopters are awesome unless you want to go skydiving (freediving), fly a Cessna (average recreational rig), or fly a biplane (sidemount). GUE is one of the best helicopter training agencies. No doubt. Who do you go to for freediving? PFI? Now, you need 2 agencies to make you a complete diver?
What value does GUE hold for a professional? This really comes down to individual choice since I know many GUE certified divers who became instructors or divemasters with other agencies for almost as many reasons as there are agencies. Quality control? This can be debated in a variety of ways. For example, is an agency made stronger or weakened by the diversity and experience of its instructor corps? Proponents of GUE argue that the lack of diversity is the strength. Argument over. Or, is it?
How has GUE impacted the diving industry as a whole? Has this impact been positive or negative? Or, both? How successful has the organization been in carrying out its mission statement? Exploration opportunities? Research benefits? Training? In the opinion of some, the organization has had great success in their mission statement. In the opinion of others, the organization failed or only marginally succeeded at one end, but exploded in success at another. The two most unprofessional instructors I've ever met were GUE. They are no longer with GUE so you can say that is a quality control victory. Nonetheless, it negatively impacted my personal feelings and joy of diving with GUE divers.
Look, I like GUE and GUE has had a positive impact on my diving, but has had an negative impact on my sanity.
I have the greatest respect for JJ, the founding members, and the organization. But, I also like PADI. You wouldn't know it because of the "bashing" I get accused of doing, but I see people taking sides in diving like liberals & conservatives in politics and I tend to remind folks there is always the moderate viewpoint - which might be better for most. The porridge is too hot. The porridge is too cold. The porridge is just right - for me. I think most people can say that. Some like hot porridge and some like cold better.
In sociology, I learned that once you change your perspective and change the yardstick by which you measure you can arrive at two completely different results.
The United States of America is a great country - unless you were a native American. Then, the USA was a treaty-breaking lying murdering stinking pile of buffalo s#!t. But, compared to Nazi Germany the USA is much better - unless Custer killed all the women and children in your village. Then, a 19th century Sioux and a 20th century Jew could compare notes.
The yardstick by which most proponents of GUE measure the organization is by trim, buoyancy, propulsion skills, teamwork, standardized gases and equipment and a small instructor cadre. Good stuff!
But, another person might measure an agency by the fact that it has programs for freediving, sidemount, solo, etc., and still find the quality of training and quality of professionalism of the instructors. For example, I've never met an unprofessional PADI instructor. Most PADI instructors I've met all seem the same with the exception of those engaged in tech or cave diving and most of these have trained and taught with multiple agencies. Tech agencies (GUE, UTD, NSS-CDS, PSAI) tend to front load skills because of the cave diving concept. You get your buoyancy first then you swim and get to learn a skill like navigation. Most recreational agencies you swim and work on your buoyancy, trim, propulsion while you build experience and get better at diving.
GUE was an important part of my growth as a diver. But, I cannot make distinctions. In my experience, having been certified with so many agencies at so many levels only the instructors mattered. I honestly only refer people to instructors I know or whose results I've seen by diving with their students. Doesn't matter what agency - even my own.
