which course is best?

[cudachaser]

All us instructors need together and form the "Grand Unified Instructors" group. Something productive for all. It should be agency unbiased...we still use our parent agencies for materials and C-Cards...Nobody better than the other, we just have our special attributes that should be exempfied. I see as a win for all venture.

I've been certified thru NASDs, PADI, NASE, HSAI, MDEA to teach and all have the same common goals...quality students

One commonality that exists in all the "better agency" posts...it's never the agency that rules...it's the instructor...we instuctors have to hone on that...we produce the new divers...not PADI, NASE, NAUI, YMCA, BMAC...they just deliver the cards

 

[Thalassamania]

NASDs, PADI, NASE, HSAI, MDEA to teach and all have the same common goals...quality students

Do the now?

 

[rongoodman]

As a newbie, my experience has been that the best instruction I've taken has come from GUE, followed by TDI, with two different PADI classes(and instructors) at the bottom of the list.

 

[robway034]

did you ever notice how simple questions, posed by newbees, always seem to deteriorate into the veterans spouting off on some tangent? The guy/gal asked a pretty simple question and we've (yet again) gave 'em waaay more than they bargained for!
So I will try it once again....It aint the cert body it's the instructor you need scrutinize! A crappy instructor, no matter what cert body, is still a crappy instructor! Crappy instructors turn out unsafe students and accordingly... crappy divers. Then there's the other issue...that being a consciencous diver requires a great deal of "SELF Discipline and motivation" Truth be known that getting certified dont mean crap the day after you pass the course. YOU have to be responsible for your own safety in the end

 

[Ghandi]

cheers guys all the info has helped a lot, i'm not exactly spoiled for choice in terms of where to learn round here but i'll try follow all the tips given.

 

[MikeFerrara]

All us instructors need together and form the "Grand Unified Instructors" group. Something productive for all. It should be agency unbiased...we still use our parent agencies for materials and C-Cards...Nobody better than the other, we just have our special attributes that should be exempfied. I see as a win for all venture.

I've been certified thru NASDs, PADI, NASE, HSAI, MDEA to teach and all have the same common goals...quality students

One commonality that exists in all the "better agency" posts...it's never the agency that rules...it's the instructor...we instuctors have to hone on that...we produce the new divers...not PADI, NASE, NAUI, YMCA, BMAC...they just deliver the cards

If it's we instructors who produce the students, why do we need the agency at all? You can buy books anyplace and you could issue your own certification. Are we paying the agency just to maintain a data base?

The goal of the agencies is to sell certifications. Their standards do not bare out your assertion that their goal is to produce quality students.

 

[MikeFerrara]

did you ever notice how simple questions, posed by newbees, always seem to deteriorate into the veterans spouting off on some tangent? The guy/gal asked a pretty simple question and we've (yet again) gave 'em waaay more than they bargained for!

Well it isn't really such a simple question

So I will try it once again....It aint the cert body it's the instructor you need scrutinize! A crappy instructor, no matter what cert body, is still a crappy instructor! Crappy instructors turn out unsafe students and accordingly... crappy divers.

Well, that's your opinion. Mine is that this "It aint the agency" stuff, as often as we hear it repeated, is complete and utter nonsense. It's the most rampant myth in all of diving and it's nothing more than a way to excuse the agencies for their gross incompetence.

A good agency will have minimum standards that result in a good class. In reality you are right. Since the agency contributes nothing to the process, the only thing that we can do is to find an instructor who is "good" in spite of the agency. Since the agency is such a "don't care" why not just ignore them? Maybe they'll go away.

 

[Thalassamania]

Well it isn't really such a simple question

Well, that's your opinion. Mine is that this "It aint the agency" stuff, as often as we hear it repeated, is complete and utter nonsense. It's the most rampant myth in all of diving and it's nothing more than a way to excuse the agencies for their gross incompetence.

A good agency will have minimum standards that result in a good class. In reality you are right. Since the agency contributes nothing to the process, the only thing that we can do is to find an instructor who is "good" in spite of the agency. Since the agency is such a "don't care" why not just ignore them? Maybe they'll go away.

You're right. Sure "it's the instructor, stupid," but it's the instructor within the confines of an agency's standards. Were all agency standards the same then the variation of instructional quality would be, at least, similar. But they're not, and it isn't. I'd say that the median quality of an LA County course is head and shoulders above that of say NAUI, PADI, SSI, etc. Is the best NAUI course better than the worst LA County? Maybe, but then the best NAUI and the best LA County may well be the same course. Is the best PADI course better than the worst LA County? Likely not, since PADI greatly limits what can be done within their courses and intentionaly produces an incomplete diver so that PPB, AOW and Rescue are essential products rather than interesting options.

 

[Lehmann108]

PADI catches a lot of heat for allowing students to use an eRDP (basically a calculator of sorts) instead of learning how to use tables. .

I just took the PADI Open Water course and we were required to use the dive tables. PADI has it as an option?

 

[robway034]

well....Ghandi.....welcome to the club! I hope that you have a lot of fun with whatever agency/class you finally decide on. The only advice I have left to offer is this: I have met tons of certified divers with all types of advanced training and experience. Some have impressed me (not that I think I am someone worth impressing) with thier dive skills and knowledge and others have left me shaking my head in utter amazement at how careless some people are with thier own lives and safety. That being said..., dont turn into one of these guys who disregards his or his buddies safety. Oh yeah....respect the ocean/nature!