Why do you believe that the industry "encourages and rewards the skirting of standards?" I agree with you, but am interested in your observations.
I think the obvious division between the dive shops, gear providers, divers at large and the certification companies produces an economic climate where there is an odd and unhealthy co-dependence between groups with very different goals. Dive shops need certification agency backing in order to be seen as credible to the public. A "PADI 5-Star Dive Shop" means very little as it relates to quality of instruction, services provided, or anything else. But it matters a great deal when advertising to non-divers. So in order to gain those sorts of accolades, a dive shop is willing to do quite a bit, as it is a market advantage to the dive shop as a business.
On the certification agency side of the fence, the agencies themselves have no direct relationship with the dive community. They are an odd combination of accrediting agency and publishing company. They exist as a business by selling training books and certification cards. They do not provide the training directly, but merely accredit others to do so. Since their principal income is derived from the sale of training materials, it follows that they are interested in having as many people taking training as they can achieve.
So from the certification agency, whose credibility in terms of training content is shielded by the fact that they merely provide the standards and do not enforce them, there is no down-side to lowering of requirements for the students provided that those requirements are not so low as to create sufficient safety hazards that might deter customers. Moreover, as a publishing house, there is every incentive to create as many classes as possible, so when it is viable to break up training into smaller and smaller discrete segments so as to justify more and more texts, they are going to do so.
The dive shops, whose income from equipment sales is dropping all the time, and who need the certification agency backing to be perceived as credible, are not in a position to oppose these business decisions by the agencies. Because the dive shops income is driven primarily by initial gear sales -- the mask, fins and snorkel required for the training courses -- and the training courses themselves. they are placed in a position where gathering more students is a primary activity.
But it doesn't stop there. Since the certification agency is interested in selling books and cards, and hence making courses shorter, the dive shops are being forced to compete not merely on the initial course sales but on follow up courses as well. Therefore it is in the dive shops' best interests to pass as many divers through the initial course so as to be able to steer the graduates into follow up courses. After all, the only way to continue to generate income from those divers in this day of internet equipment sales is to get them into a course program and keep them there.
While consciences instructors are not going to wish to be pulled down a path of lowering performance expectations for their students, market pressures will force such behaviors. As dive owners and full-time instructors have their livelihoods tied up in this business they are given two basic choices. Convince themselves that the certification agency's statements are valid and act accordingly or stand against the agency claims.
Standing against the claims, however, will shorten the business life of any dive shop taking such a stance. Particularly in more heavily contested market spaces. The population is only going to support so many dive stores in any given area, and the one's that survive, let alone thrive, will be the one's who can generate the most money to pay for higher levels of advertising.
