PADI - Concerns about students skills.

[NothingClever]

not quite, diving is a lifestyle and nobody regardless of age or cert can say they are more qualified than any diver who can enter and exit the water

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

I see divers entering/exiting the ocean off the beach all the time. Many are very good with their skills, others not so much so. The other day I watched as two guys exited the water and their technique would make Laurel and Hardy proud. I asked one guy how long he had been certified. He replied "23 years." I then asked him when the last time he went diving was. He replied, "23 years ago." Say no more.

 

[lowflyer]

I saw a teenage girl get certified who never assembled her kit by herself, couldn't put her fins on in the water, didn't complete some of the skills, and bailed out early in the fourth OW dive. She was taking the PADI OW class with family, and they all passed with hearty congratulations.
I felt sorry for the girl. She hated the water, had no interest in SCUBA and was pressured by her family. I have no idea what the instructor was thinking, and I don't know whether she subsequently ever dove with her family.

 

[Jackie Treehorn]

What's the big deal OP? The person will either: a) not really dive after getting certified, or b) improve with experience or finally c) drown.

Stay in your lane, focus on yourself, i'm sure you have areas to improve upon. We all do.

 

[MichaelMc]

not quite, diving is a lifestyle and nobody regardless of age or cert can say they are more qualified than any diver who can enter and exit the water

I'll take a shot at interpreting this Sanskrit: We are all equal in being divers, the life of diving. Like people are all equal in being people.

Poetic. Maybe.

Though not all equal in not being a disaster underwater. As we are not all equal in being cooks, physicians, drivers, etc. And if you can not find your regulator nor your fins it is unclear you are a diver.

Drowning or being complicit in the likely drowning of others - beneath the beautiful seas - is a different story that is not so poetic.

I hope the student survives and learns and if the certifying was lax the DM gets a better instructor and the instructor wises up.

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

What's the big deal OP? The person will either: a) not really dive after getting certified, or b) improve with experience or finally c) drown.

Stay in your lane, focus on yourself, i'm sure you have areas to improve upon. We all do.

I think it is a very big deal. As professionals we have a duty to make sure certifications are not just handed out willy-nilly. They need to be earned via mastery of the skills in a safe and controlled manner.

Often, divers and pros see other pros breaking standards or acting in an unsafe manner. This "stay in your lane" mentality allows them to continue acting in the same manner. This can get someone killed and is bad for the industry.

Congrats to the OP for spotting this and being willing to talk about it. I suggest reporting it to PADI. At the very least, maybe the instructor will begin to evaluate how they teach and what criteria they use for certification.

 

[rsingler]

I see this as an unanswered initial question:
Since the diver in question is already certified, is there anything that PADI might do to rescind the certification?
I don't know the answer, but I'm tempted to call PADI and ask. It's a reasonable question, if the instructor who notices the behavior has serious safety concerns.

 

[Jackie Treehorn]

I think it is a very big deal. As professionals we have a duty to make sure certifications are not just handed out willy-nilly. They need to be earned via mastery of the skills in a safe and controlled manner.

Often, divers and pros see other pros breaking standards or acting in an unsafe manner. This "stay in your lane" mentality allows them to continue acting in the same manner. This can get someone killed and is bad for the industry.

Congrats to the OP for spotting this and being willing to talk about it. I suggest reporting it to PADI. At the very least, maybe the instructor will begin to evaluate how they teach and what criteria they use for certification.

What you "professionals" want to do to each other is your own deal. Police yourselves all you like. Leave the newly minted OW diver alone.

In other words... stay in your lane.

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

What you "professionals" want to do to each other is your own deal. Police yourselves all you like. Leave the newly minted OW diver alone.

In other words... stay in your lane.

I find it odd that you would put the word professionals in quotes as to suggest that we are not professionals. As if you are being argumentative just for the sake of it. That or looking down on dive professionals as if we are less than.

As for leaving the new diver alone, I never suggested anyone should not. What I did suggest is that this diver, based on the OP's account, should have never been certified in the first place. Unsafe diving practices and inability to control buoyancy and ascents will get them killed. This IS in a dive pro's lane.

 

[Edward3c]

We had a guy who could complete each action of a skill set required for the basic diver qualification. What they couldn’t do was put the bits together. For example, they could do a Controlled Buoyant Lift from 6m and make the casualty safe on the surface then give Rescue Breaths; what they couldn’t do was put them together without being told the next action in the sequence. None of the club instructors was prepared to sign-off the rescue lessons. The guy persisted learning to dive for over 5 years before going for another sport.

They had no inclination of the danger of water. If told to remove a reg underwater they would happily sit there until told to put it back in or drown.