Quote:
| Originally Posted by Garf spoken like someone who'se never done a course with Mark Powell, who doesn't actually "fail" many people, but quite reguarly wants the students to go away and work on their skills, and come back to be re-evaluated before issuinig their certification.
Don't get trapped into thinking DIR has all the answers, or is a better system than all the others out there. Adopting any system means some element of compromise, and DIR is no different. In fact, perhaps more than any system, DIR is ALL about compromise, in that you must accept the fact that the system is not ideal for every scenario, and for each scenario there may be better unique options, but there is value in having a standard in itself you can apply to every situation. For some it is ideal, for others less so, but the value is in it always being the same, familiar, comfortable system |
Very, very wise words there, Garf - I couldn't agree more. The 'Fundamentalists' need to wind it in occasionally and realise that much of what GUE offer isn't unique in technical training...
I guess the problem is that there are those that are attracted to DIR through sites like this that have no prior exposure to any form of diver training other than that they received from a recreational agency. Now we all know that there are recreational dive instructors out there that will pretty much award a certification just for turning up and they therefore assume that other 'lesser' (sic) technical training agencies must follow the same trend. In my experience, this couldn't be further from the truth - after all, the motto of most tech instructors is 'training is purchased, certification is awarded'.
What this basically means is that a student doesn't pay to be certified for a given course - they pay for an instructors time and if, during that time, they achieve the neccessary standard then certification will be awarded. If they don't then they'll be told one of two things - go away and practice (and we'll meet up at a later date to assess whether you've met the neccessary standard) or 'never darken my door again - your a bleedin' danger mate'. Trust me, the latter is always a possibility if you're *that* bad! lol
I've worked with a number of technical instructors over the years and I have seen students fail courses first hand. Although it's rare - most instructors would much rather encourage you to improve than to fail - there has been the odd occasion where a student was just a danger to themselves and others around them. In this respect, technical training from other agencies is no different from what you'd receive from a GUE instructor.