How happy are you with today's level of Diver Education?

[Dr Neil]

The dive industry seems to want to get more divers in the pipeline quickly and cheaply.

What suffers is the quality of instruction. A classroom where the "instructor merely reads and answers the review questions, then proctors the test hasn't really taught anything. Likewise, the instructor who never takes the class off the training platform trains a group to do the basic skills, but never learns to "dive."

Well trained students earn an openwater certification and are ready to begin diving within the limits of their experience.

 

[ptyx]

On average, not competent enough.

Too many just stop learning after OW - and I don't consider the average skills of someone just out of OW good enough for anything but supervised diving in ideal conditions.

Of course, it depends a lot of the diver and of the instructor - but it's at a point where if I have to dive with an instabuddy I'm prepared to do the orientation, assist on ascent and descent, check his/her gas every 5 minutes, and probably assist during the dive as well.

 

[theduckguru]

Just kinda wondering, how do you tell the difference between a diver with insufficient skills for certification and a diver that has lost skills due to disuse just by watching them? You can't.

Most of the stuff taught and tested is to a rote standard in scuba. A guy/gal takes a class and performs well is certainly going to be very rusty in a few months of inactivity.

 

[Walter]

A guy/gal takes a class and performs well is certainly going to be very rusty in a few months of inactivity.

No argument there, but in many cases the diver was never competent in the first place.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Hell I am not happy with the level of today's DRIVERS! I have to face more of them on the way to the beaches and Airports! Thank god only 10% of the world is certified!

Certification does not make a diver, it is a liability release, experience makes a diver a better one!

 

[theduckguru]

No argument there, but in many cases the diver was never competent in the first place.

And when considering much of the complaints about sub-standard instruction seem to come from instructors, it's a pretty sad commentary on scuba instruction and industry self regulation.

 

[Diver0001]

A few things:

1) My gut feeling says that on the whole most new divers are not ready to be planning and executing their own dives. They aren't trained well enough in under water navigation and don't have enough insight into thier air consumption. Also during the entire open water course, practically none of them have had to do anything other than "follow the leader", which leads to a large group of certified beginners who only know how to follow the leader.

2) in terms of dive skills, I see a wide range among beginners depending on talent, luck (good or bad), previous experience with other water sports, interest, instructor competence and other variables.

3) making mistakes does not necessarily indicate that someone was badly trained. They could have just made a mistake. People sometimes prematurely draw (wrong) conclusions based on little to no valuable information.

4) inexperienced means just that... they don't have much experience. Some people are out there doing things they're not ready for and I have trouble thinking that this is somehow anyone else's fault except the diver doing it. The assumption people make is that when people do what their instructors probably told them NOT to do, that it's somehow the instructor's fault. This goes back to #3. Mistakes are mistakes.

5) Moaning about and/or harping at beginners because they don't know it all doesn't help a darned thing. HELPING them get the experience the need and to have fun while doing it without judging them harshly does. I once spent two days diving with an Englishman in Turkey who spent two days apologizing for being a beginner. I spent two days putting him at ease and focusing on the fun. After 2 days he started to relax a bit and have fun. WHO ON EARTH hammered into this poor guy's head that he wasn't worth diving with... .oh wait.... I think I know....

6) All internet bravado should be ignored.

R..

 

[rcs9250]

I agree with makebubblesnotwar and carrielsal.
The typical vacation diver doesn't have a clue what trim means and don't know or care how much weight it takes to be neutral at 15 feet with 500 psi. Most the time on dive boats you here people saying to the divemaster or crew "how much weight do you think I need ?" The divemaster or crew gives them enough weight so that they don't have to come back and say" I need more weight".
I'll help anyone , but do a little homework though.
In the U.S. we take on certain liability when we buddy up with someone. Now you become a baby sitter if the buddy is a stroke.
Even with your regular buddy you take on liability but at least you know your regular buddies skill level.

 

[Walter]

The typical vacation diver ...............don't know or care how much weight it takes to be neutral at 15 feet with 500 psi.

I'm with them, I want to be neutral with no air in my BC and a near empty tank at the surface, not at 15 feet. I want to make a slow ascent from 15 feet to the surface. That's very difficult to do if you are wearing a wet suit, have no air in your BC and are neutral at 15 feet.

 

[JeffG]

i'm with them, i want to be neutral with no air in my bc and a near empty tank at the surface, not at 15 feet. I want to make a slow ascent from 15 feet to the surface. That's very difficult to do if you are wearing a wet suit, have no air in your bc and are neutral at 15 feet.

lol..