We'll I'm an old diver myself.Initial cert in 1983 (NAUI)
So your issue is with the cert standards as a whole. That's a whole other subject than calling a dive shop an ""instructor mill".
You do address your definition of instructor mill a bit with the collecting money and passing a few test. That would be the Instructor Exam which is admined by PADI and not the shop. The shop runs the Instructor Development Course. That is to prepare a student for the IE
So are you saying the shops mentioned do their IDC different than almost every other shop that runs IDCs?
So your issue is with the cert standards as a whole. That's a whole other subject than calling a dive shop an ""instructor mill".
You do address your definition of instructor mill a bit with the collecting money and passing a few test. That would be the Instructor Exam which is admined by PADI and not the shop. The shop runs the Instructor Development Course. That is to prepare a student for the IE
So are you saying the shops mentioned do their IDC different than almost every other shop that runs IDCs?