I'm just curious -- those of you who are saying that Rescue should be postponed, what is your rationale for saying that? The Rescue class really doesn't involve a great deal of diving per se. It's mostly practicing emergency skills and learning ideas and techniques for getting distressed divers to the surface and out of the water. What does the student need to have learned from a certain number of dives of experience in order to do this class?
The first rule of the rescue course, or at least the one I was taught, is don't become a victim yourself in a rescue situation. As for "ideas and techniques for getting distressed divers to the surface and out of the water", those were, as the concept indicates, in the water, and even under the water. The class I took required at least some basic bouyancy skills, control of gas consumption, mask off drills, BCD off drills, etc. The concept stressed most often was panic control - not just of the victim but of the putative rescuer. You can't help someone in an emergency if you're freaking out yourself, and the exercises my instructor ran us through definitely tested that concept. I just find it hard to believe that someone with a dozen or so dives under their belt can competently do that. But my principal point is not whether or not someone can make it through the class, especially at a c-card mill. It's the aftermath, and the false sense of invincibility it creates.
Do you want to make rescue skills a required part of the OW class, as some agencies apparently do or did? That would be great, although it would probably substantially reduce the number of new divers. But then let's abandon the charade of a rescue diver "certification" absent some confirmed level of training and experience.