It might surprise you to remove the chip from your shoulder and read what I wrote.
No chip, just a bit of dandruff.
Why? Similar responses are very common among people who have failed to retain information. Most people both over-estimate their own competence and deflect responsibility.
In this case, it is the Instructors who over-estimate the competence of their students and certify them anyway.
I have not disputed the existence of poor instructors. Nor have I defended the rise of a certification industry that rests on top of the diving world. In fact I've been critical of said industry because it encourages and rewards the skirting of standards. But that is not an indictment of the standards per se, and can not be used as a blanket condemnation of training as a whole unless you can demonstrate that what you're seeing is normative.
I was not being critical of all training. I simply voiced my opinion based on what I have observed first-hand. You may not agree, but you cannot discount my observations as invalid.
Why do you believe that the industry "encourages and rewards the skirting of standards?" I agree with you, but am interested in your observations.
It would be interesting to know how many of those you deem incompetent to your liking are infrequent divers relatively removed from their training compared to those who are newly trained. It would also be interesting to know something about the geographic regions they come from, and even the specific shops.
The majority of the divers in this category were newly certified (within two years). In speaking with them, many wanted to take an advanced program and wanted to build dive-time.
I have had occasion to retrain some of the divers that have come to me for further training. In one case it was a PADI Instructor who wanted employment. I also have failed several Instructors who have wanted to crossover to NAUI, ACUC, CMAS because they didn't meet the standard. Some of these enrolled in an Instructor Training Course I offered and I prepared them for this in other areas beforehand. I've been at this for quite awhile and have seen a definite decline of competence over the years. It's nothing new; standards get lowered, skills (like buddy breathing) get dropped from the curriculum and the circle turns.
But we ultimately come back to this: what is the level of risk the participants and industry is capable of bearing?
The industry sees dollar signs. The participants don't know what they don't know.
I am not in disagreement with you that there are a lot of bad instructors out there. Nor am I in disagreement that there are divers who's skills leave something to be desired.
Agreed. These same bad instructors generate bad divers; nothing surprising about that.
Where I disagree with you is that those insufficiency at the rates they occur now are cause for real concern across the diving community as a whole. The available accident data that I've seen strongly suggests that this simply isn't the case in terms of relative risk compared to many other activities where training is required or at least strongly suggested.
I completely understand your point of view and appreciate it. Perhaps I've been exposed to it from a different perspective. It also may be that I'm more passionate about what I do as a diving professional than someone who dives for a hobby looking at the industry from the outside (no insult intended). We do however, hold different opinions. I'm sure there are diving professionals who will disagree with my assessment and other like Thal that have been around long enough to be able to see the difference.
Thanks for the conversation.
