Posted by MHK on June 18, 2001 at 10:17:57:
We spend a lot of time on this list discussing instructors and discussing what (and how) certain skills are taught. Last week I made a comment about the fact that it was my observation that most instructors teach the mask R & R's or air share's while the students are sitting or kneeling on the floor. I was surprised at the firestorm that comment generated and I believe Max Bottomtime was one of the regulars that were in steadfast disagreement with my observations..
Accordingly, Tleemay and myself decided to witness first hand the carnage at the sight where open water students are prevelent.. Terry and I spent this weekend over at Casino Point and it was nice to run into a few of the regulars ( and some of the lurkers that introduced themselves ).. BTW, Caldiver was looking sexy this weekend ;-).. And any photo you see with Terry and myself under a Sport Chalet banner is a doctored photo ;-)...
That aside it was very sad to see that every open water class that we watched ( and we made a point of watching many of the classes in water) were in fact all doing the same thing.. By my count we watched 14 classes, but some may very well have been the same class on different dives.. Instructor sitting in the sand facing students while the students also sitting in the sand performed the required task.. Mask R & R's, air sharing being done while sitting on the floor.. As I've noted on many occasions, I'm not an instructor but can some of the instructors chime in here and explain how a student can be expected to learn or understand about bouyancy and trim if they are taught from day 1 to kneel down???? What good does the air sharing drill do when you are kneeling in the sand, facing each other ( and in one class we watched they only took two breathes and then the drill was over) and you don't need to ascend, control the ascent rate and maintain your depth at 15' for 3 minutes???
I often am critical of todays training standards and certain agencies, and then I'm challenged to prove the negative which is to cite studies or some other such unprovable intangibles.. Based on what we saw this weekend I'm even firmer in my resolve with respect to training and with respect to a certain agency and a certain local chain of dive shops.. I'm sorry, but a duet of PADI married to Sport Chalet simply equals watered down training.. Terry and I witnessed one of the classes that had all the students in identical gear ( sadly it was all the wrong gear, but atleast they were standardized ;-) ), but they all had the very same problems.. The computer consoles were dragging on the floor, the *octo* some were in the holders, while others were ripping apart the kelp forests and the kicking techniques were non-exsistent... What happened to actually teaching people to dive??????? Weighting was a mess and bouyancy didn't enter into the equation.. However, the Sport Chalet slap strap was rampant..
Students don't know any better and they only do what the instructor tells them to do.. Terry and I discussed on the way home setting up a few DIR Demo's right at casino point since it seems that students don't seem to be getting quality instruction anymore.. Again I'm generalizing and I'm sure there are still some good instructors out there, ( so please save the flames in that regard) my concern revolves around the overall decline and the willingness to accept mediocrity for the sake of selling an additional AOW classes or something.. Students don't know enough to challenge the instructor and if the agency or chain of stores or even the instructor is all too willing to accept mediocrity than the student shouldn't be blamed when they have no clue how to dive after earning a c-card that will last for the rest of their life...
Before the flames begin, I would encourage you to spend a weekend at casino point and do so with the specific intention of observing classes and observing the teaching techniques and see if mediocrity isn't rewarded....
Terry and I plan on spending a weekend a month there and we will volunteer to work with any diver that doesn't feel that they have gotten what they should have out of there OW class.. We will focus on trim, bouyancy, gear configurations and basic techniques that I believe are being left out from todays training... Our time will be free of charge and all we ask is that you get yourself there and if you want some gear to demo we ask that you let us know ahead of time.. Neither Terry nor I am instructors so we will only dive with certified divers, we will not do any of this Discover Scuba nonsense nor we will do any of this 8 year old diving stuff... We want certified divers with a willingness to learn more and a desire to improve...
Later