PADI Training vs.. others

sytech@yahoo.com wrote:
> I received my YMCA Open Water Cert. about 6 years ago and recently
> received my Advanced Open Water Cert. through PADI.
>
> The latter dive instructor was very knowledgeable and skilled but I
> have to say that I was really put off by the PADI Training Manual. The
> text was adequate but the questions at the end of the chapters could
> have been answered by children. The questions were very simple
> multiple choice or "yes" or "no" answers.
>
> Something like this:
>
> "Lung expansion injuries are good for you" (yes) (no)
>
> I'm really not exaggerating much at all.
>
>
> I can really see now that PADI wants to virtually assure that you pass
> the course. As a result as I continue my training I will do all that I
> can to avoid PADI. I realize that the expertise of the diving
> instructor is what's most important but I have no faith in an
> organization which allows such dumb and self evident questions in their
> training manual. My initial YMCA Certification (written part) was a
> hundred times more demanding than the PADI Advanced Cert..
>
> Any comments will be appreciated.
>
> Sy
>

There is some very basic "book" knowledge important to entry
level courses, but not much. Mostly, it's skill development.

As you get further into diving, you may find an interest in
algorithm development, history, archeology, diving physics and
physiology, gas blending, equipment design, cave mapping or any
of the other hundreds of subjects we love to argue about here
(or used to, anyway) and which require the kind of knowledge
that can be assessed with a written exam.

Meanwhile, work on developing yer in-water skills - that's how
other, experienced divers will rank you as a good or bad diver.

Leave the essays to those that don't dive much.

m

sytech@yahoo.com wrote:
> I received my YMCA Open Water Cert. about 6 years ago and recently
> received my Advanced Open Water Cert. through PADI.
>
> The latter dive instructor was very knowledgeable and skilled but I
> have to say that I was really put off by the PADI Training Manual. The
> text was adequate but the questions at the end of the chapters could
> have been answered by children. The questions were very simple
> multiple choice or "yes" or "no" answers.
>
> Something like this:
>
> "Lung expansion injuries are good for you" (yes) (no)
>
> I'm really not exaggerating much at all.
>
>
> I can really see now that PADI wants to virtually assure that you pass
> the course. As a result as I continue my training I will do all that I
> can to avoid PADI. I realize that the expertise of the diving
> instructor is what's most important but I have no faith in an
> organization which allows such dumb and self evident questions in their
> training manual. My initial YMCA Certification (written part) was a
> hundred times more demanding than the PADI Advanced Cert..
>
> Any comments will be appreciated.
>
> Sy
>

There is some very basic "book" knowledge important to entry
level courses, but not much. Mostly, it's skill development.

As you get further into diving, you may find an interest in
algorithm development, history, archeology, diving physics and
physiology, gas blending, equipment design, cave mapping or any
of the other hundreds of subjects we love to argue about here
(or used to, anyway) and which require the kind of knowledge
that can be assessed with a written exam.

Meanwhile, work on developing yer in-water skills - that's how
other, experienced divers will rank you as a good or bad diver.

Leave the essays to those that don't dive much.

m

On 2006-03-07 14:35:55 +1300, <sytech@yahoo.com> said:

>
> I received my YMCA Open Water Cert. about 6 years ago and recently
> received my Advanced Open Water Cert. through PADI.
> The latter dive instructor was very knowledgeable and skilled but I
> have to say that I was really put off by the PADI Training Manual. The
> text was adequate but the questions at the end of the chapters could
> have been answered by children. The questions were very simple
> multiple choice or "yes" or "no" answers.
> Something like this:
>
> "Lung expansion injuries are good for you" (yes) (no)
>
> I'm really not exaggerating much at all.
>
>
> I can really see now that PADI wants to virtually assure that you pass
> the course. As a result as I continue my training I will do all that I
> can to avoid PADI. I realize that the expertise of the diving
> instructor is what's most important but I have no faith in an
> organization which allows such dumb and self evident questions in their
> training manual. My initial YMCA Certification (written part) was a
> hundred times more demanding than the PADI Advanced Cert..
>
> Any comments will be appreciated.
>
> Sy

I would have to say that the best thing to do is to have a talk with
the instructor who would be training you rather than going by the
reputation of the training agency as a whole.

PADI do have a reputation for wanting everyone who takes a course to
pass, but the quality of a course is more dependant on the instructor
than anything else. I am a PADI instructor, but I have certs from a
variety of agencies and mainly keep the PADI rating as it is useful for
work (I am a marine biologist and I occasionally train scientific
divers, and the PADI courses are useful for getting the basic certs up
to the point that non-PADI scientific training can begin).

I have met a lot of very good PADI instructors as well as some quite
dodgy ones, but the same applies to all of the other major agencies
(SSI, BSAC, SAA etc.). You sound like you should be able to get a feel
for how an instructor will be, so go from there. You might find that a
course from a more technical agency is more what you are after as the
academic portions of those courses will be more in depth than a PADI
course...

Just some thoughts...

Dan L.

On 2006-03-07 14:35:55 +1300, <sytech@yahoo.com> said:

>
> I received my YMCA Open Water Cert. about 6 years ago and recently
> received my Advanced Open Water Cert. through PADI.
> The latter dive instructor was very knowledgeable and skilled but I
> have to say that I was really put off by the PADI Training Manual. The
> text was adequate but the questions at the end of the chapters could
> have been answered by children. The questions were very simple
> multiple choice or "yes" or "no" answers.
> Something like this:
>
> "Lung expansion injuries are good for you" (yes) (no)
>
> I'm really not exaggerating much at all.
>
>
> I can really see now that PADI wants to virtually assure that you pass
> the course. As a result as I continue my training I will do all that I
> can to avoid PADI. I realize that the expertise of the diving
> instructor is what's most important but I have no faith in an
> organization which allows such dumb and self evident questions in their
> training manual. My initial YMCA Certification (written part) was a
> hundred times more demanding than the PADI Advanced Cert..
>
> Any comments will be appreciated.
>
> Sy

I would have to say that the best thing to do is to have a talk with
the instructor who would be training you rather than going by the
reputation of the training agency as a whole.

PADI do have a reputation for wanting everyone who takes a course to
pass, but the quality of a course is more dependant on the instructor
than anything else. I am a PADI instructor, but I have certs from a
variety of agencies and mainly keep the PADI rating as it is useful for
work (I am a marine biologist and I occasionally train scientific
divers, and the PADI courses are useful for getting the basic certs up
to the point that non-PADI scientific training can begin).

I have met a lot of very good PADI instructors as well as some quite
dodgy ones, but the same applies to all of the other major agencies
(SSI, BSAC, SAA etc.). You sound like you should be able to get a feel
for how an instructor will be, so go from there. You might find that a
course from a more technical agency is more what you are after as the
academic portions of those courses will be more in depth than a PADI
course...

Just some thoughts...

Dan L.

Dan L wrote:
> On 2006-03-07 14:35:55 +1300, <sytech@yahoo.com> said:
>
>>
>> I received my YMCA Open Water Cert. about 6 years ago and recently
>> received my Advanced Open Water Cert. through PADI.
>> The latter dive instructor was very knowledgeable and skilled but I
>> have to say that I was really put off by the PADI Training Manual. The
>> text was adequate but the questions at the end of the chapters could
>> have been answered by children. The questions were very simple
>> multiple choice or "yes" or "no" answers.
>> Something like this:
>>
>> "Lung expansion injuries are good for you" (yes) (no)
>>
>> I'm really not exaggerating much at all.
>>
>>
>> I can really see now that PADI wants to virtually assure that you pass
>> the course. As a result as I continue my training I will do all that I
>> can to avoid PADI. I realize that the expertise of the diving
>> instructor is what's most important but I have no faith in an
>> organization which allows such dumb and self evident questions in their
>> training manual. My initial YMCA Certification (written part) was a
>> hundred times more demanding than the PADI Advanced Cert..
>>
>> Any comments will be appreciated.
>>
>> Sy
>
>
> I would have to say that the best thing to do is to have a talk with the
> instructor who would be training you rather than going by the reputation
> of the training agency as a whole.
>
> PADI do have a reputation for wanting everyone who takes a course to
> pass, but the quality of a course is more dependant on the instructor
> than anything else. I am a PADI instructor, but I have certs from a
> variety of agencies and mainly keep the PADI rating as it is useful for
> work (I am a marine biologist and I occasionally train scientific
> divers, and the PADI courses are useful for getting the basic certs up
> to the point that non-PADI scientific training can begin).
>
> I have met a lot of very good PADI instructors as well as some quite
> dodgy ones, but the same applies to all of the other major agencies
> (SSI, BSAC, SAA etc.). You sound like you should be able to get a feel
> for how an instructor will be, so go from there. You might find that a
> course from a more technical agency is more what you are after as the
> academic portions of those courses will be more in depth than a PADI
> course...
>
> Just some thoughts...
>
> Dan L.
>
The whole point of a training certification is to provide a framework
under which *new* divers can confidently learn to be safe. If the
instructor certification is insufficient assurance of basic competance
in this regard, then the certificate is worse than useless, it is
fraudulent.

By definition, a new diver is incapable of properly assesing an
individual instructor.

Dan L wrote:
> On 2006-03-07 14:35:55 +1300, <sytech@yahoo.com> said:
>
>>
>> I received my YMCA Open Water Cert. about 6 years ago and recently
>> received my Advanced Open Water Cert. through PADI.
>> The latter dive instructor was very knowledgeable and skilled but I
>> have to say that I was really put off by the PADI Training Manual. The
>> text was adequate but the questions at the end of the chapters could
>> have been answered by children. The questions were very simple
>> multiple choice or "yes" or "no" answers.
>> Something like this:
>>
>> "Lung expansion injuries are good for you" (yes) (no)
>>
>> I'm really not exaggerating much at all.
>>
>>
>> I can really see now that PADI wants to virtually assure that you pass
>> the course. As a result as I continue my training I will do all that I
>> can to avoid PADI. I realize that the expertise of the diving
>> instructor is what's most important but I have no faith in an
>> organization which allows such dumb and self evident questions in their
>> training manual. My initial YMCA Certification (written part) was a
>> hundred times more demanding than the PADI Advanced Cert..
>>
>> Any comments will be appreciated.
>>
>> Sy
>
>
> I would have to say that the best thing to do is to have a talk with the
> instructor who would be training you rather than going by the reputation
> of the training agency as a whole.
>
> PADI do have a reputation for wanting everyone who takes a course to
> pass, but the quality of a course is more dependant on the instructor
> than anything else. I am a PADI instructor, but I have certs from a
> variety of agencies and mainly keep the PADI rating as it is useful for
> work (I am a marine biologist and I occasionally train scientific
> divers, and the PADI courses are useful for getting the basic certs up
> to the point that non-PADI scientific training can begin).
>
> I have met a lot of very good PADI instructors as well as some quite
> dodgy ones, but the same applies to all of the other major agencies
> (SSI, BSAC, SAA etc.). You sound like you should be able to get a feel
> for how an instructor will be, so go from there. You might find that a
> course from a more technical agency is more what you are after as the
> academic portions of those courses will be more in depth than a PADI
> course...
>
> Just some thoughts...
>
> Dan L.
>
The whole point of a training certification is to provide a framework
under which *new* divers can confidently learn to be safe. If the
instructor certification is insufficient assurance of basic competance
in this regard, then the certificate is worse than useless, it is
fraudulent.

By definition, a new diver is incapable of properly assesing an
individual instructor.

"Dan L" wrote

> I am a PADI instructor, but I have certs from a variety of agencies and
> mainly keep the PADI rating as it is useful for work (I am a marine
> biologist and I occasionally train scientific divers, and the PADI courses
> are useful for getting the basic certs up to the point that non-PADI
> scientific training can begin).

In other words, it's a quick and certain way to put a card in the hands of a
diver. That's a useful tool for you. It's a problem for the recreational
diving industry.


Lee

"Dan L" wrote

> I am a PADI instructor, but I have certs from a variety of agencies and
> mainly keep the PADI rating as it is useful for work (I am a marine
> biologist and I occasionally train scientific divers, and the PADI courses
> are useful for getting the basic certs up to the point that non-PADI
> scientific training can begin).

In other words, it's a quick and certain way to put a card in the hands of a
diver. That's a useful tool for you. It's a problem for the recreational
diving industry.


Lee

"zippthorne" wrote

> The whole point of a training certification is to provide a framework
> under which *new* divers can confidently learn to be safe.

No, it's a certification that they have the skills to be safe. There's a
significant difference.

Lee

"zippthorne" wrote

> The whole point of a training certification is to provide a framework
> under which *new* divers can confidently learn to be safe.

No, it's a certification that they have the skills to be safe. There's a
significant difference.

Lee