ralph diaz wrote: > > Outfit3029_at_aol.com wrote: > > > > I would suspect that it would have to do with gov't funding and > > standardization. The American Red Cross was the primary source for canoe and > > kayak education (read funding recipient). Resources for the larger part have > > been shifted to the ACA. If I am not mistaken. I am not aware that the ACA receives gov't funding, or that the ARC did, either. Both are private non-profits. There may be some grant money from time to time, but they're not gov't agencies. If anyone is aware of any gov't money being spent on canoe/kayak instruction, please let me know; I'd like a piece of it. > > I believe that the Red Cross got totally out of the certification of > canoeing back about 10 years ago. That's right. There was a scramble from summer camps to get ACA to suddenly take on the role of certifying camp paddling instructors. ACA was not terribly interested in taking the whole job on, IIRC. > > Back in the late 1980s there were major battles over the issue of > certification when the ACA first started moving toward an established > curriculum and certification of paddlers and instructors. ACA certifies instructors, not paddlers. <interesting historical notes snipped> > The problem with certification, be it by the BCU or ACA or anyone else, > is that there are plenty of competent paddlers who just don't want to go > through any of it but who can still paddle decently, self-rescue, and > avoid getting themselves into predicaments in the first place, which is > really what should be the bottom line in instruction. Why is this a problem? If they are competent without getting instruction, more power to them. The point of certification is to try to ensure that an _instructor_ can teach the skills to novices. Not to say, of course, that _all_ certified instructors are competent, or that _no_ non-certified types are good instructors. I only know about 100 ACA instructors, not all of them, and I must admit that I know a couple who I wouldn't teach with. Contrariwise, we've got folks like Matt, who is reputed to be excellent (Haven't had the pleasure, myself). But I've also seen a lot of "buddy teaching" on the river that was both dangerous and time-wasting. > There is always > the danger that a certifying body can get to a point that it does > dominate. And its domination turns into a tyranny. It can get to the > point that liveries will only rent to certified paddlers; group trips > limited only to the certified; etc. We argued about that very thing recently. Mark (mostly for the sake of argument) suggested that the liveries do the certifying, IIRC. In the final, I don't think anyone was behind the certification of paddlers. Ralph, are you viewing with alarm, or can you give an example of where the sort of tyranny you fear has happened? > > Certification certainly has its value in setting up a curriculum and > benchmarks against which an interested paddler can measure him/herself. > By its nature, at least in the BCU certification, it lends itself to > growth and reaching higher star levels. > > All of this is fine for the achievement minded kayaker. What I miss > though is something that would help the masses of kayakers who are not > oriented in that direction and that would help them learn a modicum of > skills and savvy to keep them out of trouble. The real world of trouble > in kayaking is in the masses of kayakers getting into recreational > kayaks and entry level sit-on-tops. It would be great to see something > real simple for them. ACA has a couple of courses like that. Jump-Start your Kayak and Intro to Paddling. The trick, and I don't know it, is to get the casual paddler to sign up. > > Unless I am mistaken, someone showing up with an SOT or Keowee would > perplex a BCU instructor. Or in a double folding kayak. There is > really nothing aimed at them. I had a student show up for a course on a SOT last spring. Required a little adapting of the stuff I wanted to teach, but I think she would say she got a lot out of the course. It would have been easier for me if she'd been in a "real" kayak like the rest of the students, but why take a course in a boat you don't paddle? Then again, I'm not BCU ;) Our local club, the Georgia Canoeing Association, has started teaching duckie clinics in addition to all the hardboat clinics. Steve *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 9/7/00 3:42:20 PM !!!First Boot!!!, cramer_at_coe.uga.edu writes: << I am not aware that the ACA receives gov't funding, or that the ARC did, either. Both are private non-profits. There may be some grant money from time to time, but they're not gov't agencies >> Should I have said funds rather than funding? Excerpt from "Small Craft Safety Workbook" ARC. "The following original materials were produced under a grant FUNDED by the Aquatic Resources (Wallup/Breaux) Trust Fund, administered by the US Coast Guard." I understand that the ACA and ARC are not include in the fed budget as such. It is more like the USCG receives funding for public aquatic education. They in turn give funds, in the form of grants or whatever, to ACA and ARC to satisfy this end. The lion's share of these funds went to the ARC until some years back when the bulk was shifted to ACA. More use specific I would suppose. I understand that they are not gov't agencies, but, I also understand that they could be agents of the gov't. Before you begin thinking of me as an anti gov't fanatic, allow me to explain by way of example. In FL we have water management districts. These entities have taxing authority (hmm, I thought that only gov't could do that) but they are not a state agency. They are written up as agents of the state. This is what I would refer to as a pseudo gov't agency. Please, feel free to add to my confusion. Bruce McC WEO *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> they are not a state > agency. They > are written up as agents of the state. This is what I would > refer to as a > pseudo gov't agency. > > Please, feel free to add to my confusion. > Bruce McC Here (and elsewhere?) they are known as quangos. "quango (rhymes with tango), noun, a Quasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation, a semi-official body appointed by, and often financially supported by, the state." (NZ Dictionary) The government here reviewed them all in the 1980's, and a lot sank without trace (caught not wearing their PFD's?). Allan Singleton Hamilton NZ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Outfit3029_at_aol.com wrote: > > << I am not aware that the ACA receives gov't funding, or that the ARC did, > either. Both are private non-profits. There may be some grant money from > time to time, but they're not gov't agencies >> > > I understand that the ACA and ARC are not include in the fed budget as > such. It is more like the USCG receives funding for public aquatic education. > They in turn give funds, in the form of grants or whatever, to ACA and ARC to > satisfy this end. The lion's share of these funds went to the ARC until some > years back when the bulk was shifted to ACA. More use specific I would > suppose. > I understand that they are not gov't agencies, but, I also understand > that they could be agents of the gov't. I work for a university. Most of the professors here scrape around for grants, from places like the US Dept of Education, Office of Naval Research, USDA, etc. We don't consider ourselves to be agents of the gov't, by a long shot. But anyway, the question of ACA's financial relations with governmental agencies is interesting enough that I thought I'd ask someone who knows. Below I quote, with permission, Jeff Yeager, Exec Dir of the ACA. The numbered questions are mine. /begin quote > 1. Does ACA get any Federal money? We receive no government money (Federal or otherwise), except for occasional grants from the Boating Safety Education program administered by the U.S. Coast Guard. > > 2. If so, how much and for what? USCG grants are awarded on a compeititve application process for specific safety projects, and each year we usually submit at least one proposal. Over the past +/- 20 years, I think we have received a total of 14 USCG safety grants (sometime zero in a year, sometimes one or more are approved) for a wide variety of projects, including production of several videos, a couple of books, implementation of new instrtuctional programs, etc. I would estimate that the 14 grants over 20 years probably totaled approximately $600,000. > > 3. Also if so, what percent of ACA's total revenue does this amount to? The USCG grant funds are restricted and not considered part of our general operating budget/funds. However, the ACA's currrent budget (including off-budget items like grants) is approximately $1.5 annually, with the budget for our magazine (Paddler, a for-profit subsidiary) about another $1.5 million annually as well. /end quote So there you have it. $600,000 over 20 years isn't exactly chump change, but at 2% of the ACA budget, it's not a major profit center, either. Steve *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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