PADI Training vs.. others

<sytech@yahoo.com> wrote

> I now see why. and Lee hit it right on the head when he said " have,
> and have always had, a problem with any agency that puts sales above
> safety and, in my opinion, PADI corporate has done just that".
>
> I have decided that I will avoid any PADI courses if at all possible.
> In fact I will be traveling in about 10 days and though it's difficult
> have weeded out several PADI facilities.

Your choice, but possibly a bit of overkill. There are a lot of good PADI
divers and a lot of good PADI instructors, just like in all of the agencies.
It is the corporate attitude that offends me. The biggest problems with
that attitude, in my opinion are that it leads people to believe that this
sport is automatically safe and it fails to weed out instructors who don't
teach well enough to motivate students to learn and do what it takes to
participate in this inherently dangerous sport, safely.

Lee

<sytech@yahoo.com> wrote

> I now see why. and Lee hit it right on the head when he said " have,
> and have always had, a problem with any agency that puts sales above
> safety and, in my opinion, PADI corporate has done just that".
>
> I have decided that I will avoid any PADI courses if at all possible.
> In fact I will be traveling in about 10 days and though it's difficult
> have weeded out several PADI facilities.

Your choice, but possibly a bit of overkill. There are a lot of good PADI
divers and a lot of good PADI instructors, just like in all of the agencies.
It is the corporate attitude that offends me. The biggest problems with
that attitude, in my opinion are that it leads people to believe that this
sport is automatically safe and it fails to weed out instructors who don't
teach well enough to motivate students to learn and do what it takes to
participate in this inherently dangerous sport, safely.

Lee

"Dan Bracuk" wrote

> You've been bent. Are you PADI trained?

No, but the guy who put air in the tank I'd paid to have 32% in was.

If diving were as safe as you say, it would not have mattered, right?

Lee

"Dan Bracuk" wrote

> You've been bent. Are you PADI trained?

No, but the guy who put air in the tank I'd paid to have 32% in was.

If diving were as safe as you say, it would not have mattered, right?

Lee

"Dr Yak" wrote

> But as a diver, not a student, there's a different perspective. If you
> avoid PADI, who do you dive with?

Who cares? It's not the transportation that makes me safe, or not safe.
Even when following a guide, I don't follow him blindly. No matter how you
got them, you have to have skills and knowledge to be responsible for your
own safety. A certification card says you have them. That's exactly what
certification is. If you don't, you should not be issued the card, no
matter how much, or how often, you pay.

> At least with PADI you have someone with a certain level of training.

No more certain than with any other agency, maybe less certain.

> Part of being a PADI dive center is that you hire only PADi certified
> staff, so you've got someone who made it thorugh DM.

In an agency that, to some of us, seems to put passing more advanced courses
ahead of actually knowing something advanced, how is that a good thing?

> As for guaranteeing you make it through, I saw a couple of divers wash out
> in my PADI OW class and one in my rescue diver.

Not all PADI instructors are idiots. Most are pretty good.

Lee

"Dr Yak" wrote

> But as a diver, not a student, there's a different perspective. If you
> avoid PADI, who do you dive with?

Who cares? It's not the transportation that makes me safe, or not safe.
Even when following a guide, I don't follow him blindly. No matter how you
got them, you have to have skills and knowledge to be responsible for your
own safety. A certification card says you have them. That's exactly what
certification is. If you don't, you should not be issued the card, no
matter how much, or how often, you pay.

> At least with PADI you have someone with a certain level of training.

No more certain than with any other agency, maybe less certain.

> Part of being a PADI dive center is that you hire only PADi certified
> staff, so you've got someone who made it thorugh DM.

In an agency that, to some of us, seems to put passing more advanced courses
ahead of actually knowing something advanced, how is that a good thing?

> As for guaranteeing you make it through, I saw a couple of divers wash out
> in my PADI OW class and one in my rescue diver.

Not all PADI instructors are idiots. Most are pretty good.

Lee

"Dan Bracuk" wrote

> :I have, and have always had, a problem with any agency that puts sales
> above
> :safety and, in my opinion, PADI corporate has done just that. YMMV.

> What part of PADI training do you consider unsafe?

The part that issues a card certifying competence to someone who is not.

"Dan Bracuk" wrote

> :I have, and have always had, a problem with any agency that puts sales
> above
> :safety and, in my opinion, PADI corporate has done just that. YMMV.

> What part of PADI training do you consider unsafe?

The part that issues a card certifying competence to someone who is not.

"Matthias Voss" wrote

> Assimilating an approach to accident prevention from civil engineering/
> traffic accident research (which I had done several years ago):

> You observe near accident events, try to classify the causes, and relate
> them statistically to accidents really happening. Works.

Sure does, but not if you start with the assumption that, because there's no
accident report, there is no danger.

Lee

"Matthias Voss" wrote

> Assimilating an approach to accident prevention from civil engineering/
> traffic accident research (which I had done several years ago):

> You observe near accident events, try to classify the causes, and relate
> them statistically to accidents really happening. Works.

Sure does, but not if you start with the assumption that, because there's no
accident report, there is no danger.

Lee