Posted by MHK on February 06, 2001 at 15:04:41:
In Reply to: Re: A question for MHK from FF posted by CalDiver on February 06, 2001 at 14:46:02:
The reason why I prefaced my comments in saying I wasn't there was in fact to let the reader decide for him/her self.. I read that information on the Quest list and it was a rather lenghty thread that had e-mails attributed to Karl and Terrance Tysal, but I want to make it clear that I'm just passing along what I've read and I'm not vouching for it's verocity..
But as to PADI passing diver's up the food chain you'll just have to experience because I can't site a source.. Next time you see a diver with X number of advanced C-cards and they can't dive for the life of them you'll just have to conclude for yourself, because it's at epedemic proportions...
But I would add a point about standards... First off I talked with Karl about this in July of last year before they were announced. It was clear to me that the starting point for any agency would be to mirror those of the competitors ( ie; NAUI, IANTD and the like ) and then modify for your agency.. I told Karl that what I thought he did was copy IANTD's, have PADI's lawyers review tham and make any modifications so, sadly, the standards do differ in any material fashion.. The very real concern I have with PADI is that they pass and accept the least that they can get away with.. They don't challenge there students and/or instructors to do more, in fact they are precluded from it, you demonstrate proficency in the minimal standards and you pass...
Why I have developed a fondness for GUE is because they do just the opposite.. They don't want market share, they don't want to make a diver *adequate*, they want you to learn how to dive, not just collect a C-card and then sell you another class...
Later