scuba training academies in the keys

[endurodog]

We'll I'm an old diver myself.Initial cert in 1983 (NAUI)

So your issue is with the cert standards as a whole. That's a whole other subject than calling a dive shop an ""instructor mill".

You do address your definition of instructor mill a bit with the collecting money and passing a few test. That would be the Instructor Exam which is admined by PADI and not the shop. The shop runs the Instructor Development Course. That is to prepare a student for the IE

So are you saying the shops mentioned do their IDC different than almost every other shop that runs IDCs?

 

[mathauck0814]

MOST shops don't run IDC at all, much less differently. Even fewer have an IT or CD on staff.

And yes, I think it's fair to suggest that if you were working with a shop that intended to have a professional relationship with you that you would get more out of the course than the bare minimum as the shop wouldn't accept that low level of knowledge.

An instructor mill that takes people on as projects for a few weeks or months before they push them through the exam, boxes ticked, and then off to wherever they may go... different level of knowledge being transferred.

 

[endurodog]

Obviously your a PADI bashed. Plenty on Scubaboard. You haven't been to a course at Rainbow or observed. I have. Along with my DM and asst instructor at others.

Yep shops choose who they hire and there going to hire the best candidate. Again separate issue beyond the training.

You can bash these shops with zero first hand evidence all you want. You want to bash PADI standards have at it, won't argue with that. You have given no evidence of how either of the mentioned shops run their IDC or acceptance of candidates any different than any other shop that runs IDCs.

 

[mathauck0814]

Not bashing PADI at all. I'm bashing the practice of training an instructor that you don't intend to work with as I believe it promotes working to a minimum rather than a level that's acceptable to the potential employer; with the candidate left in the lurch because they didn't know any better.

 

[endurodog]

On that note. The certification as instructor requires you go through an IDC. IDCs have to be taught by course directors. The majority of shops don't have course directors on staff. Shops like Rainbow Reef have 2 course directors on staff and you get the benefit of 2, and yes it was a benefit. It's unrealistic to expect small shops to keep CDs on staff

Who a shop hires and develops is up to the shop. Be it someone fresh from passing their IE or having them intern. That has nothing to do with the training facility.