Scuba Lessons Jax expelled from PADI--students left in the lurch

[tursiops]

Have you taken an online course yet? You don't get materials, you get a code in a computer. Once you pass, the code is no more. You can go back and review the materials, but when you take a class (which is what PADI is advocating) you have to buy new materials, otherwise you can't take quizzes and tests.

Perhaps I missed it; do we know the class was on-line?

 

[Wookie]

Perhaps I missed it; do we know the class was on-line?

How do we know that there was any class at all? But all new classes are online, so you have to pay again.

 

[tursiops]

But all new classes are online

First I've heard of this! Alternative fact?

 

[Wookie]

First I've heard of this! Alternate fact?

Don't think so. Are we allowed to re-use training materials? I'm pretty sure it's blue bold that we can't. For those young pups, blue bold was an absolute "thou shalt" or "thou shalt not".

So I see you can still buy a PADI OW crewpack from Diver's Direct for $83. Mea culpa. I apologize. I had no idea that anyone was still killing trees to teach scuba. But I bet it's still a standard that it can't be reused.

 

[pconsidine]

nteresting. Need to look into if that then is with or w/o the vis sticker.

How do we know that there was any class at all? But all new classes are online, so you have to pay again.

No not all classes with Padi instructor are online, the student has option to purchase Padi Elearning online or actual materials crew-pak.

 

[2airishuman]

I think this thread is interesting.

@tursiops, @boulderjohn, @The Chairman, I think you've all internalized the instructor mindset, perhaps to a degree where it's difficult to see the world through the eyes of a new or prospective diver regarding this particular subject. You're right, of course, on the nuts and bolts of this matter. The mess isn't PADI's fault. They deserve some credit for sending a letter at all rather than sweeping the whole thing under the rug. Their letter is a reasonable articulation of the facts. It is safety oriented. It is balanced, insofar as it does not appear to make the matter out to be worse than it is. It suggests remedies that are, from an instructor's standpoint and PADI's standpoint, quite reasonable. We agree on all that.

I'll take off my diver "hat" and my pedagogy "hat" for a moment now and invite you to do the same. We now enter the world of marketing, brand management, and brand messaging, where perceptions, connotations, and image carry the day.

PADI is more than the professional association that its name implies. It is an international marketer of diving instruction. It tells the world why to choose PADI. Quoting from that page, "All PADI programs, from entry-level through scuba instructor training, fall under strict educational standards monitored for worldwide consistency and quality. PADI takes a proactive approach to quality management and randomly surveys PADI Divers to confirm their courses meet PADI’s high standards as well as the divers’ expectations. No other diver training organization works to maintain this level of professional reliability and integrity."

And so I'm with @Wookie on this. In bizspeak, marketing-speak, one might hope that PADI would "walk the talk." That they would be the "diver training organization" that in fact sees to it that all courses "meet PADI's high standards" and then would fix it on their own nickel when rare cases come to light where they did not.

 

[pconsidine]

2airishuman your tread is very true, Padi is more concerned with the welfare of the masses as opposed to a few minor cases. Also if Padi offers free training they are from a legal aspect admitting to some guilt.

 

[boulderjohn]

First I've heard of this! Alternative fact?

I am often accused, especially by Wookie (as in this thread), of being a resolute defender of PADI. I submit that I am not. I am a resolute defender of objective truth, and I just find myself wearily pointing out how many anti-PADI statements are either pure lies or absurd speculation. In fact, if you were to be a member and participate in the PADI instructor forum right now, you will see that I am participating in a discussion in which I am very strongly attacking certain PADI policies and standards. If you go, you will see that I am doing it through the use of actual facts, which in our new world where facts don't matter is an anomaly.

Let's take this thread for example. How much do we really know about what happened? How much do we know about what the students and the instructor actually did? How much to we know about the reasons for the instructor's expulsion? The answer is we know very, very little.

Now go through the thread and see how many times people jumped to conclusions about the missing facts, and see how many times those conclusions put PADI in a bad light. You will notice that all I have done is point out that these conclusions are unwarranted. I did not defend PADI; I just pointed out that there is no basis to make the anti-PADI statements.

In another thread a few days ago that involved another situation involving PADI in which little was actually known, one of the participants in this thread stepped into the thread and essentially said, in all seriousness, that everything had to be PADI's fault because it was, after all, PADI. (The comment and follow-ups were removed by moderators because of the obvious agency bashing that we do not allow here.) It is that kind of mindless, stupid, alternative fact world with which I am so very revolted.

 

[tursiops]

Don't think so. Are we allowed to re-use training materials? I'm pretty sure it's blue bold that we can't. For those young pups, blue bold was an absolute "thou shalt" or "thou shalt not".

So I see you can still buy a PADI OW crewpack from Diver's Direct for $83. Mea culpa. I apologize. I had no idea that anyone was still killing trees to teach scuba. But I bet it's still a standard that it can't be reused.

I'm pretty sure the material can be reused by the same person. That does not violate copyright. For example, the Adventures in Diving manual has 20 some Adventure dives in it; the manual does not suddenly become unusable after 1, or 3, or 5, or 15 of those dives is done, even though the AOW might have been obtained along the way.

 

[Wookie]

As I said above, in the three cases I know of in which a customer went to the car manufacturer with a complaint about a dealer that had clearly defrauded them, the manufacturer clearly said it was completely between the customer and the dealer, and they were not the remotest bit interested in helping out.

Wow. The manufacturer closed all 3 dealerships because they were defrauding customers? Cause that's what we were talking about....