Hi Anthony - I don't disagree with you except: I was overweighted, at the surface unable to get my head above even with kicking, instructors had their back to me, and my BCD felt tight enough to be fully inflated (turns out it was 2/3), I figured I could dive again or ditch. I figured in the OW, diving again wasn't going to be a good option so I ditched the weight. Got my head up and remained calm the whole time. When my instructor saw the weight belt at the bottom he just gave me a look. We talked later about the overweighting. He figured after using the tank air, the weight he added would have been fine. I wasn't in any real danger, it was an 9 ft pool and I had half a tank of air. But the experience taught me several things: 1) when switching from 3m to 5m suit, recheck weighting so instructor doesn't have to add weights!, 2) when someone adds weights to your system, know where they put them (better yet, add them yourself!). Instructor added clip weights, didn't tell me where he put them, 3) I didn't do a bc before going deeper, my bad, and 4) buy my own bcd unit and get used to it (I'm actually thinking of a wing unit instead of jacket style). Inflation/deflation should be 2nd nature. I suspect there were at least 2 dozen more lessons to be learned from it but I'm too new to recognize them.
I have alot to learn and appreciate your tips. Lord knows I don't want to be a diving statistic nor cause a buddy to be one.