- Messages
- 93,607
- Reaction score
- 92,097
- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
It depends on the diver, really ... but one should not consider this an "either/or" set of choices. For most people, diving instruction teaches you how and what to learn ... and the learning takes place by diving. Mentors are and always will be a major component of the learning process ... but it's important to find a mentor who can teach you responsibly. Choosing the wrong mentor can either result in chronic bad habits or a serious case of dead ... because there are plenty of divers out there who subscribe to the "balls of steel" school of learning who will happily take you places you have no business being.
Instructors won't (usually) do that.
The biggest problem with formal instruction is that it's an artificial environment. It has to be, because diving instruction is a structured curriculum ... with specific objectives ... and the nature of diving is generally unstructured and unpredictable. Therefore scuba instruction cannot train you specific responses to all conceivable things that you will need training for. What training attempts to do is provide you a set of tools and teach you their basic functions. Mentors teach you the "craft" of using those tools through repeated application. These are very distinct levels of learning ... and both are important.
Yes, it is true that there are divers out there who are completely capable of learning to become skilled divers without any formal training at all ... but they are few and far between. One cannot apply the needs, goals, and aptitude of one diver to another ... we're all different. A good instructor knows how to recognize those differences and apply training in a way that best suits those attributes to the individual diver ... which is what makes the "checklist" approach to dive instruction so inappropriate so often, and why so many times someone will come out of a class lamenting that they didn't learn anythinig. It is also why you will often hear someone say "it's not the agency that matters, it's the instructor".
So ... to answer the question more directly ... for a small minority, formal instruction could be optional (ignoring the necessity of a c-card) ... but for a significant majority, formal instruction is necessary. But even for that significant majority, formal instruction cannot replace the value of a good mentor ... one who can guide you through the real learning that occurs through practical applcation.
FWIW - I have taken over 30 different scuba classes over the past 11 years, and learned a great deal from them. But the person who taught me the most about diving is not a scuba instructor ... he's just a very skilled diver who has a lot of patience and a great way of explaining things. The knowledge he shared with me came over the course of well over 100 dives.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Instructors won't (usually) do that.
The biggest problem with formal instruction is that it's an artificial environment. It has to be, because diving instruction is a structured curriculum ... with specific objectives ... and the nature of diving is generally unstructured and unpredictable. Therefore scuba instruction cannot train you specific responses to all conceivable things that you will need training for. What training attempts to do is provide you a set of tools and teach you their basic functions. Mentors teach you the "craft" of using those tools through repeated application. These are very distinct levels of learning ... and both are important.
Yes, it is true that there are divers out there who are completely capable of learning to become skilled divers without any formal training at all ... but they are few and far between. One cannot apply the needs, goals, and aptitude of one diver to another ... we're all different. A good instructor knows how to recognize those differences and apply training in a way that best suits those attributes to the individual diver ... which is what makes the "checklist" approach to dive instruction so inappropriate so often, and why so many times someone will come out of a class lamenting that they didn't learn anythinig. It is also why you will often hear someone say "it's not the agency that matters, it's the instructor".
So ... to answer the question more directly ... for a small minority, formal instruction could be optional (ignoring the necessity of a c-card) ... but for a significant majority, formal instruction is necessary. But even for that significant majority, formal instruction cannot replace the value of a good mentor ... one who can guide you through the real learning that occurs through practical applcation.
FWIW - I have taken over 30 different scuba classes over the past 11 years, and learned a great deal from them. But the person who taught me the most about diving is not a scuba instructor ... he's just a very skilled diver who has a lot of patience and a great way of explaining things. The knowledge he shared with me came over the course of well over 100 dives.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)