Ian, I agree with most of what you say, and I agree that you *can* 
turn out good students under the PADI system.  But look, it's a 
simple fact, PADI is the governing body watching over the 
instructors.   The fact that there is so much substandard instruction 
*must* be laid at PADI's feet, because there is no one else.  Blaming 
the individual instructors is pointless, as long as PADI doesn't 
change who can teach, they will remain the same.  It must come from 
PADI if we are to see a change.

Ian Puleston wrote:
~
>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.
>>  --
>>  Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
>>  Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.

-- 
Paul B.
--
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