But the party line isn't "certify all that pay". The PADI course standards
clearly state that a student diver must "master" every skill before going on
to the next. The skills taught, if mastered by the student, should be
sufficient to bring the student to a level where he/she can safely do easy
dives and start to gain the experience to move on up.

The question is can a student master those skills in the time frame of a
typical course (usually 4 weeks or 2 weekends). My observations have been
that some can, some can't. If the instructor certifies those that cannot
then it is he that is at fault. Many instructors push out sub-standard
divers because doing it properly would mean bringing those students back for
further training, which would cost them (the instructor) time and money.

Then you have the question of what level of mastery is required. A student
who wants to go and dive warm water with a dive guide while on vacation
probably doesn't need to master the skills so well as one who is going to
dive unsupervised in a less-ideal environment. That's a judgment call for
the instructor, and again, a good instructor should be prepared to tell a
student that they need to come back for further training where he thinks its
needed.

We all know that PADI's goal is to make money, and that they want to turn
out as many divers as possible to make as much money as possible - PADI
themselves admit to that. If they are at fault here, which they probably
are, it is in not enforcing the standards that they have published. But it
is primarily the instructors who are not meeting those standards who are at
fault.

A good instructor can turn out good divers using the PADI system. I know
some very good cold water divers who came through that system.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Braunbehrens [mailto:Bakalite@ba*.co*]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 5:37 PM
> To: Todd Sieber; techdiver@aquanaut.com
> Subject: Re: WARNING - Coffee Alert
>
>
> Todd, as long as the party line is "certify all that pay", the
> instructor is powerless.  There needs to be some kind of line drawn,
> and if you can't cross that line you don't get certified.  The
> agencies have been loosening the requirements, if anything.  It's
> true that you can have good and bad instructors in any system, but a
> good system is one that is able to adhere to a minimum standard.  In
> my experience, PADI's minimum is not acceptable for diving around
> here (Monterey).  Then again, maybe it's fine for warm water no
> stress diving, I wouldn't know.
>
> Todd Sieber wrote:
> ~
> >Paul,
> >
> >Look I'm on your side on the issue of some people shouldn't get certified
> --
> Paul B.
> --
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