The DM mini-requirement of 20 dives to start training has been around for
years. I got upset enough over PADI's recent reduction in the instructor
experience requirement to 6 mos (minimal enough at 12 mos) that I
bothered to email PADI HQ and point out that increasing scuba deaths
should not be answered with reduced standards. They replied that I was
sadly confused.

Several posts have described clear violations of PADI minimal
requirements for instruction. I don't know what it takes to get PADI to
enforce their own requirements. I know other instructors who have filed
complaints and been told to shut up. Personally, I have had my own DM
endanger student lives in open water dives, and have refrained from
final ATTACH NO DOWNLOAD filing a complaint because PADI doesn't DO anything. I certainly won't
work with him again, but this DM is now training to be an IANTD DM and
instructor, BTW, in case you want to point fingers at agencies.

I don't know what to say. I have taken bad classes from SSI instructors
as well as PADI instructors. I just try not to teach bad classes, or
certify divers not ready for the card, and if there's a PADI standard I
don't agree with (such as sending a 10 yo into 42 degree water with fast
currents), I ignore it. It seems kind of naive to me to blame the
organization, beyond the fact that they simply don't enforce their own
minimal standards.


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