How do you feel about guaranteed to pass IE programs?

[Thalassamania]

Some rather negative remarks have turned up on the original thread

 

[SparticleBrane]

Dirty laundry...

 

[CJ Waid]

I don't understand this thread?

I am just starting divemaster, I am planning on going through instructor and then MSD-T this summer, and going to IE at the end of the summer....

I am putting in the hours studying, and paying attention to detail while training... I will pass, no problem, I am confident... If someone can't pass the IE the first time out, then they should consider whether they actually are ready to become an instructor. I know if I fail for some reason, I will question my true intentions, but I won't, because I WANT IT.

One more thing, I think that you can make a damn good living as a dive instructor if you do it right... If you don't reach your goals, then you may have never set them to start with, you can make a damn good living selling pet rocks if you are serious and creative about how you do it.

 

[Thalassamania]

If someone can't pass the IE the first time out, then they should consider whether they actually are ready to become an instructor.

Exactly!

 

[stu_in_fl]

funny, PhilEllis nailed it on post#2 (40 something posts ago !) - basically just a marketing ploy - if the candiate fails, costs to retake are paid for by the vendor (until the person passes or gives up !)
....its not a uniquie thing to scuba, there are always companies doing similar things for certifications in other industries (e.g. computer type of things, management type of things etc. etc.)...the small % of people who would fail compared to the additional candidates it atttracts make the risk worth it for the vendor (speaking in terms of $ obviously)

.....the question of if it is good, bad or indifferent for the sport or quality of instructor is a different thing...but then again just having a lot of dives or having dived for many years does not necessarily make a good instructor either.....

 

[GA Under Water]

sometimes I think LDS should offer a "Guarenteed to pass" course. it doesn't mean their standards are lowered, it just means you pay once to get certified.

Then again, to save money the shop may in the long run lower their own standards, but that isn't the Dive Organization's fault, it is the shop offering.

To be safe on the standards though, it could be argued that the later has a large possibility to come true.

 

[TeddyDiver]

I thing that there are more than a few CDs out there who would take exception to these unnamed and unknown CDs laying claim to the tile of “Best Course Director in the World.” Frankly anyone making that claim in public is, to me at least, a laughing stock that I can not take seriously.

Actually the statement is done by the Dive Center, not the CDs. I met them last year and they were OK what I can say after one day of diving.
During one IE last year at least a couple of their Instuctor candidates failed and someone was on a second time.
They (the Dive Center) use a lot DM and Instructor candidates as free labour, and so it's easy to promise "Guaranteed to pass".

 

[SassyScubaGal]

First standards were dropped (below what entry level divers had to do in the old days), then the age was dropped to 18, and now you really don't even have to be able to outline a course, organize a lecture, identify objectives or deliver a lecture. So what are you really still an Instructor?

Yep. And you also don't have to make sure a student is fit to dive anymore either. (It's my understanding that the old medical requiring MD sign off to dive was replaced-- Now students only need a medical sign off IF they answer "yes" to any of the questions on the med release. (Keep in mind, obesity-- think BMI >30-- is a contra-indication for diving! Sorry gang, I am a med professional so this change really fries me.)

AND, you also don't have to teach the tables anymore either (at least at my LDS)... Our instructors have abandoned them in favor of the eRDP. When I asked the instructor who is "mentoring" me through my DM program why, I was told, "Too many students were making mistakes calculating the tables." When I suggested that maybe this was a reflection of the instructor, I was laughed at. (I think it's like teaching a math student how to punch the buttons on a calculator instead of actually teaching them how to add-- garbage in, garbage out.) Oh, and here's the real kicker: If the OW student wants to go on & take a Nitrox class, it's the poor Nitrox instructor that will have to teach them how to calculate the tables FROM SCRATCH (meaning in addition to the Nitrox tables)-- not their OW instructor. At least that's how it's going down at my LDS...

 

[Walter]

I actually think the quality of instructors has dropped to the point that it no longer matters if there is or isn't a guaranteed pass.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Good point Walter.