Posted by brianc on October 16, 2000 at 12:42:20:
In Reply to: PADI sells out, yet again... posted by MHK on October 16, 2000 at 12:09:04:
The entire quote from the PADI site is:
"Have logged a minimum of 20 open water dives prior to entry into PADI Divemaster training, and completed and logged a minimum of 60 open water dives with experience in night, deep and navigation prior to certification as a PADI Divemaster."
You put quite a spin on that statement by not quoting the site directly. Your statement "They won't sell you the C-card until you hit 60 dives, but the notion of entering a DM program with only 20 dives under a divers belt is the height of absurdity.. And they wonder why we make fun of them???" is just plain insulting to those of us who worked hard to earn our DM rating, which just happened to be with a PADI instructor.
I can tell you that I worked hard for my DM rating. (Yes, I did have over 60 dives when I entered.)
Like any other cert. it's the instructors who make the course worthwhile or not, as well as the effort put in by the student. I shopped around for months before choosing an IDC instead of just going to the one closest to my home.
I do think that the requirements have gotten to be too loose in terms of prerequisites and the minimum time required to go through the program. That does not mean that everyone just did the minumum. I know poor DM's and instructors and good ones from different agencies.
Instead of insulting everyone associated with an agency, I believe that it is more constructive to work towards improvements. I talk with instructors and the course director at the shop I work with about things such as making internships mandatory and extending continuing education requirements to the DM level.
I need to instill confidence in students for them to learn safe diving skills from my example. That's a lot harder if they read that I should be laughed at because of guilt by association.
Pointing out problems with a program and sugggesting changes is constructive. Demeaning those of us on the front line trying to do a good job because of problems at the top is not constructive.
I've enjoyed reading your posts since they often have good information and seem well thought out. This one was a shocker, it seemed out of character.