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At 14:15 29/01/97 -5, you wrote: >So, if one wants to make a living out of teaching diving, > >1a- One must either teach a *LOT* of divers (for example, taking >almost anybody, regardless of ability, in their classes), or > >1b- keep teaching them all the time (for example, by telling them >stuff a tiny bit at a time, and making them pay for all bits). > >1c- do both a & b at the same time. > >2- There is far more money to be made by selling gear than by >teaching people. > >2a- So, diveshops being bottom-line oriented, they will also teach >diving courses. > >2b- Naturally, the instructors there will try to sell as much gear as >possible to students, if only to please their bosses (heaven forbid >the instructors be on commission). > >3- If the optimal gear configuration (a.k.a. "Hogarthian") is >minimal, simplistic and performing, well, one can obviously see who >will be the loser, here. Fortunately, for this time, it ain't the >knowledgeable diver here. > >3a- But if knowledgeable divers won't buy the crap pushed by diveshop >instructors, diveshops have no incentive whatsoever in giving quality >formation. Instead, their interest lies with keeping the average Joe >Doe (or is it "Joe Dough", or "Joe Blow"?) uninformed, or rather, >disinformed. > >4- So, it turns out that the dive shops (at least in North America) >are in the classic American business position, that is of letting the >fox guard the henhouse. > >5- If this is the situation, why in hell dive clubs aren't jockeying >hard to provide proper dive training, like it is done in Europe? Why >people in north america aren't enjoined to join dive clubs (as a >matter of course, a marketing organization by a dive shop can hardly >qualify as a dive club). > > >-- -------------- Pour la Republique Francaise du Quebec -------------- -- > While everybody is busy saying that "Government is the biggest threat > to individual liberties", they don't notice that free speech is being > hacked and slashed by big corporations with unlimited legal budgets. > >~~ Last real dive: Still the almost fully frozen canal Soulanges, 5mfw ~~ >Marc Dufour -- [\] ACUC6 31874 - TDI CD-0197 -- http://www.accent.net/emdx >-- >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. >Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > The problem with the diving 'industry' is that their logic is faulty. While a properly rigged diver may not spend as much on gear in the first instance, if dive shops were to teach people the 'right' way they would continue diving for many years and as we all know diving aint cheap, even when using a streamlined config. The drop out rate is so high that shops have to keep teaching masses of people and selling crap gear or they go broke. If they kept people in the 'game' they would make more out of them in the long term and have a viable business for the future. I know that in this country many shops are feeling the pinch and shops are regularly changing hands or going out of business because of their 'fast buck' approach. Scott -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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