diverrex
Contributor
From my perspective, the MSD program's goal is simply to keep new divers engaged and retained. I don't think the idea is to make someone think they are a master of anything. Obviously this means that people are active AND spending money on additional training.
I can't count how many people I have met over the years that have taken OW & AOW to go on a trip or something and are never seen or heard from again. They definitely are not diving locally, much less taking any additional continuing education. I have many of these people as "friends" on Facebook. I never see them post about diving at all, much less going diving.
As an instructor, I will pay for the MSD card myself if I have a student take all the required courses with me AND wants to have it. It would be the least I could do after all that, right?
I think people make too big of a deal about this, and belittle it more than they really need to. A lot of you guys sit up there on your high-horse passing judgment on people that have the card.
When you judge someone it says more about you than them.
I also don't quite understand why people get so negative about The MSD card. Isn't it a good idea for people to keep training? And instructors always complain that you can't earn a living teaching so they should be happy that some people take a bunch of classes. I don't think I've heard anyone brag about getting MSD and actually believe they are a Master Diver. I think they know it just marks a milestone of number of courses taken and to them at least a certain commitment to the activity.
I would prefer for AOW to be called OW2, simply the second course after OW. Following that logic you could have OW Rescue then OW5 or OW Rescue5 or 5 courses past rescue. But I totally get from a marketing perspective why that is not appealing even though perhaps more accurate.