Thanks to all who took time to answer my previous thread.
I am dedicated to PADI. There is no better system IMHO. You get lead by the nose for everything. You follow the system and you get protected by it.
It is about making money and it does it very well.
It is the Ford/MacDonalds/Windows of the diving world. Yes, there are others who do it better (maybe) but PADI markets a product that is standard and can be followed by any old numpty!
It is the instructor that makes the course. Diving is about having fun. I tell my students, if you are not having fun, then do not do it!
But how can an instructor make things fun if he has had no experience in having fun himself.
I was lucky I did a 10 month internship when I did my DM (mainly because the South coast of the UK in winter is not diving friendly) I learnt to repair wetsuits, service regulators & boat outboards, I learnt charts, tides and weather and a plethora of periphery information to assist me in my quest for the PADI Instructor card. (which I found I did not need for the IDC/IE)
I want PADI to succeed in its training of instructors, but I am horrified that they have overlooked the main point of an instructor is a SCUBAGOD! He is the fountain of all knowledge (allegedly) but for the DM who had an MSDT with 10% of his dives, how can you respect someone who has not "walked the walk"
There will all ways be someone who has been deeper, for longer, done more dives, has more kit. But I have worked with some of the best instructors out there. Not because they can teach 20 students at a time, but they are organised entertainers.
I posted the original thread to try and gauge wether I was the only PADI instructor who thought an internship was a good option.
I did not want to get into the whose is a better system debate.
The only winner of that debate is the students. After all we are all here to teach people to dive.
I am dedicated to PADI. There is no better system IMHO. You get lead by the nose for everything. You follow the system and you get protected by it.
It is about making money and it does it very well.
It is the Ford/MacDonalds/Windows of the diving world. Yes, there are others who do it better (maybe) but PADI markets a product that is standard and can be followed by any old numpty!
It is the instructor that makes the course. Diving is about having fun. I tell my students, if you are not having fun, then do not do it!
But how can an instructor make things fun if he has had no experience in having fun himself.
I was lucky I did a 10 month internship when I did my DM (mainly because the South coast of the UK in winter is not diving friendly) I learnt to repair wetsuits, service regulators & boat outboards, I learnt charts, tides and weather and a plethora of periphery information to assist me in my quest for the PADI Instructor card. (which I found I did not need for the IDC/IE)
I want PADI to succeed in its training of instructors, but I am horrified that they have overlooked the main point of an instructor is a SCUBAGOD! He is the fountain of all knowledge (allegedly) but for the DM who had an MSDT with 10% of his dives, how can you respect someone who has not "walked the walk"
There will all ways be someone who has been deeper, for longer, done more dives, has more kit. But I have worked with some of the best instructors out there. Not because they can teach 20 students at a time, but they are organised entertainers.
I posted the original thread to try and gauge wether I was the only PADI instructor who thought an internship was a good option.
I did not want to get into the whose is a better system debate.
The only winner of that debate is the students. After all we are all here to teach people to dive.
