Posted by SLANG on June 18, 2001 at 16:48:57:
In Reply to: Re: Teaching experience? posted by MHK on June 18, 2001 at 15:53:54:
Mike:
I think you misunderstood the purpose of e-shark's query. I believe he/she's not so interested in your qualifications to evaluate instruction as he/she is curious to know how aware you are regarding the attitudes and abilities of the typical student entering the average dive shop wanting to get certified.
That being said, I also want to say that I agree completely with your original post in this thread; and wholeheartedly applaud your efforts to offer continuing education to anyone requesting it. You and I may have different beliefs on some diving issues, and we may not always see eye-to-eye on comments made in "cyber-space" about diving, but I sure support you on this one.
I have always believed that the key to safer diving is not more regulations on the "who, what, where's" of diving; the key is to create better divers who can then make informed decisions about their own diving. As an industry, we should not be reducing training requirements to the lowest common denominator just so we can open up the under-sea world to the masses. Maybe not everyone who thinks they want to learn to dive is qualified to do so.
I also think that the current OW1 certification should not be allowed to be the last education a diver receives. It seems to me this should be more of a "Learner's Permit" that should require additional diving with experienced divers in order to flesh out their training and help the new diver master the basics skills they were taught.
Unfortunately, I don't think the majority divers (at least around CA) stay in the sport long enough to gain the experience it takes to become proficient. I hear a lot of new divers complain about not being able to find experienced people to dive with. I'm sure many of them would love to be able to take you up on your offer of additional training. I'm guessing that you and Terry will have a hard time keeping up with the demand. Let us know how it turns out.
Just curious though, what exactly are you looking to stress in your continuing-ed? Are you planning on GUE type requirements or just the basics skills like buoyancy, finning, mask clearing, etc? Good luck.
SLANG