A number of years ago I was in a tropical resort area, and I walked up to the bar after a nice day of diving. A man was expounding on decompression theory to the 4-5 other patrons at the bar as they listened politely. When he was done, he walked off with an air of great pride. As soon as he was gone, one of the other patrons asked me if I had a couple of minutes. When I said I did, he explained that they, as non-divers, had just asked that man, clearly a diver, to explain about decompression. The speaker told me that as a physician, he knew that most of what the guy had told them was untrue. Moreover, he could tell by the agonized look on my face while the guy was talking that I knew that, too. Would I now tell them the truth?
I did.
This was not a case of someone getting a bogus advanced certification. This was a case of someone completely forgetting what was taught in the basic OW class and perhaps picking up some untrue information later on by listening to unqualified people the way the others had listened to him at the bar. People forget what they are taught over time. It happens in everything that is ever taught. I was originally a chemistry major in college, and I had to be pretty good at advanced math to be able to do that work. I can't begin to do anything above simple algebra and geometry today. I certainly can't remember calculus, and a slide rule I used to manipulate with ease means nothing to me now.
