-=> Quoting Dennis Seavey to George Marett <=-
 DS> It has been my
 DS> personal experience, over the course of twenty five years as a
 DS> certified diver, that the new trend in education has been to teach
 DS> SCUBA in a modular format.  Before it was believed that an instructor
 DS> may only get one shot to educate a diver and they had to make the most
 DS> of the opportunity. Introductory classes were more in depth with
 DS> respect to theory and the range of specialty areas given class
 DS> coverage.
One problem that rears it's ugly head at this time is that many
(most?) dive operators will ignore the "Basic SCUBA" training
that divers got a few years ago. They lump experienced divers who
don't have "advanced" certifications in with the divers of today.
As you stated, over the years, entry level courses have become
less and less, and the continuing education courses have become
necessary. This forced "older" divers to take the "advanced"
(expensive) courses so that they can continue doing the same
diving that they have been doing. It is necessary for us to
produce proper certification to impress some pubescent
"instructor" that we are qualified to dive....even though the
instructor may have only been diving for a few months, and the
"Basic" diver has logged hundreds (maybe thousands) of dives.
The "experience cards" that SSI and others which show that you
have certain numbers of dives is a step in the right direction,
but these cards have to become recognized.
... It's so cold, I'm freezing my Bobbitt off!!
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