Nemrod:
The modern certification programs are merely a consumerist engine for deriving cash flow. The courses themselves are largely without merit.
I agree that courses are around to derive cash flow, much like any other business. Big deal, that is how the world works. This does not make it the *sole* reason behind certifications. I have no issue with people diving if they are uncertified, they can do what they like, I don't think certification is something that makes one a good diver, or lack of, a bad diver.
However, there are
huge benefits of scuba diving courses so I disagree strongly that they are 'largely without merit'. I and most people I know learned to dive via a scuba certification course. I don't know anybody in my family or close friendships that dive, so I am not sure how I would have learned otherwise.
I was awful in the water when I first started and think highly of the OW course I did as it turned me into a confident diver from a starting point of where water in my eyes would bother me a lot
With diving, there are many things one needs to know in order to be a safe and competent diver. They can be self-taught (I don't know many people who could do so successfully but they do exist), taught by a friend/family member/someone equivalent (I see no problem with this if the friend is competent) or go through an agency and get certified (this seems to be the easiest method). So the third option enables one to learn to dive just like the other two methods, and therefore has merit in that regard. The other two options also have merit, however in many cases people who might be great divers are denied fills and things like that in certain areas for not being able to present proof that they are divers. People who have a problem with this should harden the hell up. Would you believe anyone who walked up to you and said "I am a good and safe diver diver, I'd like a fill?" If so, hope you have insurance or live in a place where suing is hard... Certification cards protect businesses who sell fills and other services to divers and the certification process helps many people learn to dive. Also I know a few divers who learned to dive years ago before cert cards were common or not required. They don't whinge and whine about having to pay a little bit to get a cert card, it's a small price to pay in the scheme of things. Most of them have been able to get certified for just the cost of the card as they are well known by instructors and have just been certified to get fills and charter rides, so they don't even need to go through a course!
Now on to certification. I think there are many things that could be done to improve diver skill after an OW or even AOW course. For various reasons that have been discussed ad nauseam on this forum. I don't see that there are huge numbers of scuba diving deaths due to poor training, which implies to me that scuba diving is not particularly dangerous. What I do see is a huge dropout rate. So I think the standard OW courses contribute more to diver dropout rates than they do to diver death rates and are thus not the terrible things that many people here seem to make out. But, like most things, there is room for improvement.
