Do You Approve Of Quickie Certifications?

[gkwaldee]

Mike,

I agree, its not about speed..........if there are classes and texts out there that mislead, or omit fundamental, safe, practices, then they should be stricken from the industry. And shame on them for helping to kill some unknowing people.

While I agree, I am much more inclined to believe that the majority of people are lazy, and reckless. We are a Nation of "gotta have it now" and, much to our dimise, it bites people in the ass all the time.

All Im saying is that, in my case, all the info was there, it was up to me to show the instructor, myself, and my eventual buddy that I have a grip on whats going on. If I screw-up, its my fault.........not the instructors. My safety is MY responsiblity. and my buddies, but were married, so thats alittle different i guess.

 

[double125's]

If your instructer did not properly train you he is as much at fault as you. You paid him to train you and he failed to do his part. However you are to blame for not doing more research,practicing effeciently or continuing your education with a better instructer. If you were to buy a BC off him and it leaked air would you not take it back to have it fixed or get your money back. whats the difference then if you bought training off him and he gave you a faulty product.

 

[caymaniac]

I approve of quickies!



now certifications, that's a different story

:wacko:

Diving is fun,
Caymaniac

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

caymaniac once bubbled...
I approve of quickies!



now certifications, that's a different story

:wacko:

But are you a certified quickie?

 

[clootie]

If you have a good understanding of basic physics & maths, have a safety conscious mind, don't consider that a near death experience is an adrenaline thrill to be sought at every opportunity, and understand that a basic OW certificate is like a learner's permit, rather than passing your driving test... sure, why not.

I did my classroom work in 1 day, and my dives over 2 days. I was lucky because there were no other students, and I am a very quick learner of academic stuff. And I had no intention of buddying up with another newbie, renting out equipment, and jumping into a dive beyond my abilities - I stuck firmly with guided dives with a dive master for the first 30 or so dives (including the AOW course I did after 15 or so).


Now I'm AOW certified and have 150 dives - but all of those were warm water, so I'm going to approach diving here in the UK pretty cautiously!

Know your limits, and I don't just mean the NDLs.


:crawl: :crawl:

 

[diverbrian]

Our normal SSI course consists of Scuba I which is normally four class sessions with pool immediately following the class that day. This comes out to about four classes divided evenly between classroom and pool. The split is about 2 hrs classroom and then 2 hrs pool. Only when they pass the skills in the pool on the fourth session and the final are students allowed to take Scuba II (commonly called open water).

I have seen students that basically were told to swim around with a DiveCon in the pool's shallow end until they got comfortable in the water and then required extra pool sessions to get ready for Scuba II. To my knowledge, I have seen one student go through the equivalent of two extra pool sessions before she was comfortable enough to with the instructor for an actual class. That particular student is now a very avid and very good diver. Also, the store did not charge her for the extra pool time with the DiveCon.

I was also personally assisting with a private class for a family that had been through two resort courses (one per year on Caribbean vacations) and wanted to get certified so that they wouldn't have to take another resort course in the Caribbean that year. They had their skills and knowledge very solidly based before they started. Their Scuba I was basically a refresher course that took all of one weekend. They then did their Scuba II by referral in Cozumel and by all accounts highly impressed the instructor down there.

My point is that for the most part we don't do "quickie" courses up north. As many other postings have pointed out, the diving up can be somewhat more challenging than say, Provo (my only personal experience with Caribbean type diving). But in some instances, such a course may be appriopriate and of value. The difference in diving conditions would provide endless debate. But, if the student has some level of experience and comfort in the water, I have nothing against a quick course. If the student is not yet comfortable in the water, but wants to learn, then they paid the instructor to give them the time necessary to learn skills to be a safe diver. That time should be given to them before the open water starts. I personally like IANTD's form which gives a student a chance to "fail themselves" if they are not satisfied with their skill level (but how many of us would be honest enough to do that?).

 

[JCKCSYCMD]

We have too many functional iliterates running around already, so now someone wants to certify them to swim around also and drive up insurance rates?

Maybe I've been diving too long, or getting old and less tolerant, ... but I don't approve of them...period.

 

[WVMike]

Al Mialkovsky once bubbled...
It's not a rude question. At least to a guy it's not!!



Yes she carried my gear past the surf for our shore dive this morning so we could dive. Am I lucky or what?

Hey you got my envyut:

 

[SA Boy]

By all means use a quickie course to see if you like diving and want to take it up seriously. After all there is a major time and money commitment to be made if you do.

But I certainly don't for one minute believe that anyone can be trained to a suitable standard in two days.

I believe that most agencies charge students for c-cards and course completion certificates (if not directly then it's built into the cost of the course. So rather cynically I believe that many of the agencies are doing this to increase revenue.

Training needs to be made more comprehensive and schools should not be afraid of failing or refering students who are not up to the required standard.

I bet if we had Dive School league tables like we to for the schools our children attend every dive school on the panet would be the best and they'd all have 100% pass rate

 

[Ari]

People with not enough experience are potentially risking their own lives (and not only their own).

Ari