Formal education: option or obligation?

[NWGratefulDiver]

I'll date myself here .......Mine started driving a purple Gremlin in a mall parking lot. Good times

Mine started driving a '59 Caddy out of a bar parking lot at 2 AM ... dad handed me the keys, said "Here, you're old enough." He then crawled into the passenger seat and passed out ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Jaydubya]

Formal education is needed for the cards. Mentoring and personal experience, including reading manuals, for the education. In my experience, most classes are woefully inadequate at training a diver to do the dives that they purport to certify him for. While it's true that mentors may leave things out, this is also true for instructors. I have taken several courses in which I know the instructors left stuff out. This has included tech and overhead courses. If I had not had good mentors or had not read the manuals I would not have had any idea that I was short changed. One of my mentors says that because I have near perfect buoyancy and trim and am very comfortable in the water the instructors just assume I have command of all the other basics and move on.

[DaleC]

I learned (driving) by working on an Alberta grain farm for two summers as a youth. 12-14 hr's a day running trucks, tractors and swathers but I did not have a license (too young). Oh, and I stole my dad's truck when I was 14 for a joyride (and got quite an azz kicking for it).

[adutto]

The experience is given informally of course, but if we don't formally take exams in order to show our progress, how are we supposed to know how is a good mentor, a good buddy, a diver suitable for a deepdive, etc...

My belief is that the combination of both is a healthy answer to the question. You need the experience, you need the expertise of the divers of the life, but you need to standardize that as well. Like any other activity, it needs regulation. If the question is that the regulation entities should "sell" the certifications, or those have to be given by non-profit organizations is a completely different story. I believe that, if the organizations are non-profit (not like PADI, SSI, NAUI, IANTD, et al) it is better, but depends on us, diver, to make that happen.

[markmud]

Hello All,

For the survival of the industry, formal education is required for initial certification. From that point, all divers need informal mentoring. Some folks can gain this mentoring by paying for more formal education, while others will self-study by reading many books and diving with experienced divers. Natural curiousity and creator-given hunger for more knowledge is all that some need.

All of the divemasters that have lead me on u/w tours were, at the same time, mentoring me. People who dived for the navy mentored me. A fighter pilot who dived as an avocation mentored me. People who wrote about their diving careers or were featured in books about diving adventures mentored me. Publications from the U.S. Navy, NOAA, and DAN have educated me. PADI publications have mentored me.

Here is what I can teach many new divers. The oceans are hostile places if you don't respect mother nature. I knew people who did not survive their forays onto the ocean; I know some who survived heroing tragedies while upon oceans. I have searched for and salvaged damaged and wrecked boats; most of these boats were damaged by people who did not respect, nor had any knowledge of the ocean's great power.

If you want to survive on the ocean always think about plan B and plan C. Practice plan B and then practice plan C.

Always expect bad things to happen. That said, you should enjoy yourself while on the ocean. Be happy; the ocean is an incredible place where you will witness things found nowhere else. However, be prepared with plan B and C.

I survived many years on the oceans because I had SOLAS gear, training, experience, and many spare parts onboard. Also, I never expected anybody to save me or my vessels. We took care of ourselves and had redundant systems.

I have met some SCUBA instructors who know nothing of survival on the ocean.

They are no less dangerous than some of the self-trained/mentored divers I have dived with.

I used formal training to get my OW, AOW, and Nitrox cards. In the near future, I will be undergoing formal training for an SDI Solo Diver Cert.

Is formal diver training an obligation? Hell no. But it is a very good idea, at least initially. For some divers, formal training up to a Master Diver cert should be a personal requirement. Too much training aint enough for them.

markm
("You arrogant ass, you have killed us." What movie is that quote from and what related incident killed one and seriously threatened the lives of two others?)