I very rarely teach PADI BOW anymore because I feel like I can't teach everything that I feel is important in one weekend of pool and classroom and four open water dives. I do teach it occasionally but I do it on my own and no longer teach that class thru my shop. I now prefer to teach the upper level courses but I teach them on my terms as well. This allows me the freedom to spend as much time as I want and add to the course as I see fit.
I think that the PADI standards are actually pretty comprehensive. Sure, there are some things I would like to add
and I do add these things
but overall I think they have a pretty solid offering. Unfortunately it takes me more time to teach all that PADI requires than my shop allows.
That, IMHO, is where the system breaks down. A shop has to present the course and still make - or not lose - money doing so. Well sorta, anyways. They can make it up on the back end with gear sales and trips and such. However, if they would have to double their time in the pool and in open water then not only will they make less because of the greater overhead associated with this expanded course but they will attract fewer customers to begin with.
The weakness in PADIs system isnt in their standards but rather in the fact that they allow and even encourage this abbreviated course. But what I see as a weakness in PADIs system a shop owner might see as its strength; a marketable open water course. Likewise, adhering to PADIs standards and instructional system provides a shop and its instructors prudent risk management under which they can safely conduct business. This, of course, is what my example of Walters Immelman maneuver was meant demonstrate. Adhering to uniform standards both protects the student and reduces the liability of the instructor. When an instructor deviates from standards either by omitting or adding to standards then defending such practices becomes much more difficult and may expose the student to unneeded risks.
Here are some of the things that I would like to see change but bear in mind that I have the luxury of not depending on any scuba income to feed my family. I would like more pool time...more open water dives...and a greater emphasis on certifying "finished self reliant divers. I would like to see PADI raise the minimum age, add some physical fitness screening and toughen up their swimming and general watermanship requirements. It would be great if PADI would provide its instructors with some optional standards or additional instructional modules. And like many others around here, I think that PADI should encourage its instructors to get students up off the bottom before going to open water and once there test skills while in a neutral orientation.
SA
Walter, I dont recall insulting you. Perhaps you were offended by the King of the PADI Bashers title. It is your incessant belittling of PADI that has earned you this title and not my wicked desires. So if you felt insulted I apologize. But I truly believe that you often misrepresent, mislead and proffer unfair accusations and untruths about PADI and its instructors. And that, my friend, is not meant to be an insult...just calling it the way I see it.
SA
