NAUI Divemaster course cost

[Ber Rabbit]

Was sitting in on my instructor's latest DM class and she said NAUI now requires Divemaster candidates to buy the entire leadership library. The cost? $1200.00 (US) retail, yes TWELVE HUNDRED DOLLARS just for the books! Has anyone else heard this? She called NAUI and whoever she spoke to confirmed it. WOW! Looks like NAUI is trying to keep too many people from becoming DM's. I know our college student hopefuls can't afford that kind of cash and we could use the help!
Ber

 

[jbd]

prices like that listed in shops before. I didn't know that that included that entire library. I would think that they should have you acquire those materials as you progress through the training programs.

I have heard one line of thinking that may shed some light on this. This will certainly weed out card collectors is the essence of this thinking.

You make a good point that many of the college students don't have that kind of extra cash available.

Might be one of those double edged sword things.

 

[neil]

Ber,
I just got off the phone with the NAUI training dept. You are NOT required to buy the entire library. There are recommended materials, but nothing is absolutely required. I don't know who (or IF)your instructor spoke to at NAUI, but I suggest you call them yourself, 800-553-NAUI to confirm this.
One of the cornerstones of NAUI is the concept of "academic freedom". You are allowed to use almost any materials you want to teach a course, and there are very few mandatory items, even though NAUI has mostly excellent materials.
They should not be pressuring you to buy the whole library.

Neil
NAUI 16372

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I'm going for my instructor cert., I was just sitting in on the DM class. NAUI said I would have to have the entire library too (as an instructor candidate), they're making her buy one too even though she has the old one. She was told that instructor's have to have the current library. I've got the stuff for OW but NAUI told her I had to have the entire library even though I'm only going to teach OW for the first year (at least). She was a little peeved about that. She will sell us the books for her cost but it's still $800. Worst part about it is the new books are pretty lame. We've been talking about just having the students buy the Master Diver book for OW then they don't have to buy more books for AOW (the book looks like a pamphlet!) and Master Diver. That would help our students a lot because they are all in college (we teach at a university) and short on cash. Our lectures cover a LOT more than what is in the new books since we have 20 hours for lecture. NAUI does have some nice teaching notes though, I just expand those when I write my lectures.
Thanks for the info, I'll give them a call and see what the deal is.
Ber