Posted by Jim Hoffmann on August 21, 2001 at 15:44:20:
In Reply to: Are you actually an instructor? posted by Glenn on August 21, 2001 at 12:42:11:
Glen are you an instructor?
PADI weekend classes are done all the time in this area Orange county, LA county. Here
is how it’s done: a student takes home a video or a CD, comes back to the shop on Friday
and takes the written test, then does 3-4 hrs. of pool, and then does 2 OW dives on
Saturday and 2 OW dives on Sunday. If the student pass the test and demonstrate the
skill, once (they are certified, a PADI OW Diver). They are able to do this type of class
because PADI has no hourly standards for lectures or pool work only the 80mins. for the
OW dives.
What kind of a diver does this class produce? Are they self-reliant in the water? What
will they remember next week?
If you are an instructor you know that training a self-reliant diver take time. And I think
inaction between the instructor and student. If you look at the class I have outlined, you
see very little interaction. This is PADI’s wave of the future, the instructor only seeing the
student for pool and ocean. The lectures and test are don’t online with PADI, with PADI
collecting a Fee.
8yrs olds are still little children, for that matter so are 10 yr. olds, they are both going
U/W on Scuba(this is child endangerment to me). If one of these little babies (because
that’s what they still are)embolisms there should be criminal charges filed, against the
parents, the instructor, and the training agencies.
Glen, if you are an instructor you need to think of what we are doing when we teach
someone to Scuba dive( we are training people to become divers, a diver go’s into a
hazardous environment, using life support equipment).
Do you really think that the weekend certified divers or the 8 and 10 year olds are ready
for that?
Jim Hoffmann
PADI 6301 ITC 1975
NAUI 5888 C/O 1980