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Jason, I agree with you that the agency is responsible for proper training of the Instructor, but once the Instructor is out in the field, no, the agency does not have much in the way of a quality control system. PADI has about the best in quality control as far as a system goes (ironic since their Instructor requirements and Instructor training sucks) as it depends mostly on other Instructors in the field reporting violations of its other members. IANTD, TDI and ANDI have no way of enforcing standards, and in some cases, choose not to. Case in point: I tore in half a nitrox certification card that I almost issued to a PADI Instructor who turned out to be an asshole. I found out that Randy Boherer, a board member of IANTD (and an asshole too) enrolled this PADI Instructor into an IANTD Instructor training program AFTER I PERSONALLY TOLD HIM THAT THIS GUY WAS DANGEROUS. Now, if I had not raised all kinds of hell with IANTD, we would have an Instructor out there teaching bullshit and possibly hurting someone. And Randy Boherer is STILL a board member. I lost faith in IANTD (sorry Tom) and crossed over to TDI. HOWEVER, to Tom and IANTD's credit, they have, with my help, recently created a qaulity control board and published facility standards, a first, as far as I know, for any of the technical agencys. But is is still not enough, and I do not know what the answer is. Unfortunately, most Instructors, for all agencys, do not have the balls to speak their mind and stand up for what is right. The bottom line- once an agency turns an Instructor loose, their is little they can do to "police" him and his training of students. All too often an Instructor candidate demonstrates adequate performance and knowledge during an Instructor training program, only to get out into the field teaching with little or no real diving experience. So while I agree with you that a card from a qualified Instructor actaully is better than one from a jerk, the jerks agency affiliation will in most cases have more credibility than simply an Instructor who would issue his own "personal" certification card. I doubt that you are an Instructor, or you would most likely have known this. And if you are not an Instructor, don't become one-just keep on diving and you'll have more fun! Safe diving Raimo.
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