Debay777:
I think we're getting too hung up on the length of the class. The issue is the content. You said yourself that "I still dont have my bouancy under full control."
If I were to define dive safety in terms of specific skills, buoyancy control would rate pretty high. Note that according to the DAN report that something like 60% of accidents involve buoyancy control problems and/or rapid ascents. Even though, that doesn't identify buoyancy control as the cause in all cases, isn't it enough to suggest that it is at the very heart of diving safely? I think so. Why don't the agencies set some meaningful buoyancy control requirements that students need to meet on a real dive?
Buoyancy control, the mechanics of trim, propulsion and functioning midwater with a buddy IS DIVING. That's not what's being taught. They're teaching underwater breathing while kneeling on the bottom. Do you really need a class for that? I didn't and the only people who do are the ones who are afraid of the water.
This is typical and is a result of a total failure to teach the basic mechanics of diving.
bperrybap:
It's not the length of the class it's WHAT is taught and HOW. You could teach a VERY short class and if you taught the right stuff, divers would be better off than they are now. To help out in my little corner of the world and to illustrate my point, I'll offer right here on the board that any local certified divers having these sorts of problems can give me a call. In a single day at a local dive site we'll fill in the missing pieces and have them well on their way to a whole different kind of diving that's a lot more fun and a lot less work.
Lets talk about cost though. When I owned a dive shop the majority of my students had already booked a tropical vacation and some still complained about the cost of the class. It's a matter of priorities. They decide to go on a dive trip and then found out that they need to be certified. They are out to buy ACCESS, as inexpensively as possible.
Of course classes are cheap and teaching doesn't pay much. Lots of instructors teach just for fun and it actually costs them money to teach. When they learn a little more about what's going on or the novilty wears off they quit. There just isn't enough money there to attract very many instructors who really know their stuff and can teach it. So...we have a bunch of new divers who are also new instructors who never learned the skill set that I'm talking about. The agencies don't teach it and they haven't been out long enough to learn it elsewhere, put two and two together and add it to their classes. It's not like they examined the pros and cons and decided on one way over another. They only know one way and they can't teach what they don't know.
Great, get your cert and go out diving with more experience divers... All too often, it's just the blind leading the blind.
It's a lot easier to learn the basics before even getting out of the pool. Yes, I said EASIER! It's easier on the student and it's easier on the instructor. It's more fun too because when you get out of the pool into OW, you can really dive, gain experience and enjoy it. Why isn't it done more often? Because they just don't know that it can be done or how.
you think your class was ok? Try something. While face to face with a buddy and maintaining eye contact, descend to ten feet. Stop for a bit and do a last check or whatever trips your trigger. Better yet, pull out your wet notes or slate and have a little conversation...but stay at 10 ft! No need to be kicking to maintain that depth because you're neutral. Continue your descent together and stop just a couple of feet off the bottom. Without disturbing the botom or changing depth, initiate air sharing in both directions and each of you remove and replace your mask...again don't change depth, touch or disturb the bottom. Make awareness of your buddy the priority while doing the mask R&R because if I were there I'd have your buddy swim off while you were doing it and if you didn't catch it you'd have failed. LOL but it's the same in real life. If you lose a buddy because of something simple like that it could be a real failure. Maybe even one that you'll regret for the rest of your life. Make sure that you are neutral and aren't kicking to maintain depth. Now ascend in a like manor as you descended, stopping midway for a bit.
There isn't anything tricky there. It's just ascents, descents, buoyancy control and other run of the mill skills that are needed on every dive that a diver will ever do including their very first. It's diving at it's most basic level. Still, take a random sampling of divers and see how they do.
Content, content, content! The in-water portion of a dive starts with the descent. Lets start our evaluation of training by looking at how descents are taught and what is required of the student. I don't think we need to look any further to see just how lacking it really is. Also note that you won't pick up the missing pieces in AOW, rescue, DM training or instructor training either. The important pieces that are left out are left out of the whole course lineup.
There is no sense in discussing time and cost without a common frame of reference regarding content. The content and performance requirements should be derived by what is actually done while diving. The time is just what it is. Unfortunately the industry controls the time required by limiting the content independantly of what you need to dive well...remember the descents. Current training has a total disconnect between what is taught, how and what we actually want to be able to do while diving. ok, the cost is right but you aren't being tught to dive. You are being sold access. It's really pretty expensive access if you think about it.
You'll probably survive a guided tour but I don't know that it should be called diving.
