The Worse Class In The World!!!!!

[cold kiwi]

OH MY GOSH!!!!

i was being a dm for an o/w class it runs over 2 week ends fri,sat,sun......sat,sun

ok i have done about 5 interns and ive being finding that usually in a o/w class youll get about 1or2 muppets(idiots) not this weekend oh no

we had 8 people on the course and we soon found that only 2 of them could swim! and surprising enough these were the same 2 that had ever snorgel'd ....now that to some people would be a sign of whats to come but me being an optomist decided that they would be fine ....me dm plus a very qualified instructor what could possibly go wrong?

well fri night started o/w 1&2 watched vid.....time for knowledge review(which they were told to do befor start of class) not one of them did it ...that was ok we slowly went through it and ended the lesson
saturday morning ..9am o/w 3 ....no one does any knowledge reviews ..again..thats ok...we make our way through them everyone is happy
12 o clock in the pool for confined water 1,2,3 it had taken us 2 hours to get through confined water 1 !!!! then another 2hours to get through 2 !!! with an hour into confined 3 we had to stop because of time and people had commitments

the day was terible they were by far the worse students both of us had EVER come across they wouldnt listen the briefings were perfect! slow and we repeated our selves at least 4 times
they were doing wrong skills ...almost every one of them panicked when they did a mask clear
one guy was good in the water but spoke little english (he was german) so when we did get it through to him he was great

on to sunday 9am start straight into the pool we didnt finish confined water 3-5 until 5pm!!!!! everyone had to repeat the skill that we showed them at least 3 times somtimes more
when the instructor would take 2-3 max dwn to the deep (usually everyone would go of course but these people?? noway)
and i would watch the rest and practice some skills that they have just learned if i turned my back for 5 secs to see how the instctr is getting on they would
A: start taking gear off
B: make a break for the deep end and i would have to stop them all .....now you can expect that a couple of times but after specifically telling them many times only go dwn to the deep end when i signal you and escort you

theres so much that happened that i would be here for ages ut its 11:30 at night and im stuffed

they did there final exam and we were out of there at 9:30pm!!!!
...again no home work

i just read through this and it seems that me and the instructor are a bunch of clowns but i am a good dm and the instructor has had 100s of certs under him (about 7yrs) and ive never seen this befor (other instructors were watching from the side and couldnt beleave there eyes)
im ****ting bricks about our o/w next week when we are in the sea..........but they all in the end past every requirement in the pool sessions we didnt care if we were in there all night they were going to pass everything

have any of the DMs or INSTRUCTORS seen this befor???
the whole class was a pack of monkeys
i started to wonder if it was all a setup and was waiting for some practicle joke guy or a padi official to come walking round the corner. i think ill just get some sleep and hope nxt week goes well................i really hope no one ever gets a class as bad as this ....be a good story when im older

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Sigh!

Unfortunately it happens rather a lot. Many students do not complete the Knowledge Reviews on time. Many do not do the required reading either.

It always makes me wonder how much those students really want to dive if they aren't willing to put forth some minimal necessary effort.

I have no problems dealing with it when students have difficulty in the pool so long as they pay attention and make a genuine effort. If a student is unwilling to participate actively in the pool session, then you need to ask them why they are in the class. The answer may be interesting.

 

[Walter]

They can't swim, they were accepted into class, then they panicked. Why would this surprise you? I must either assume your agency doesn't require swimming, you taught them to swim before starting class or you violated standards.

It took 2 hours to get through the each of the 1st two pool sessions? Unless you took a break for lunch, it sounds like you spent a total of 13 hours working in the pool with students who have much less than average ability in the water.

All of my pool sessions last 2 hours, I schedule 8 of them. If I have a problem student, I add in extra time.

Everyone had to repeat each skill at least 3 times? My students normally repeat each skill much more than 3 times. If they've only repeated it 3 times, they don't really know the skill. Skills should be second nature.

You are correct, this post does not present you or the instructor in a favorable way. First, these people should never have been accepted into a SCUBA class. Second, your description reveals some aspects of your teaching methods which are, in my opinion, inadequate.

 

[ABQdiver]

cold kiwi once bubbled...
OH MY GOSH!!!!
......the whole class was a pack of monkeys
i started to wonder if it was all a setup and was waiting for some practicle joke guy or a padi official to come walking round the corner. i think ill just get some sleep and hope nxt week goes well................i really hope no one ever gets a class as bad as this ....be a good story when im older

I heard/read lots of stories about bad instructors, bad agency's and bad dive shops.

Sounds like what you had were "bad customers"!!

Seems like the whole world is getting into a immediate gratification mode and don't want to put out any effort at all, or the very minimum effort at best. I'm ready to bet that that is the case in more of these reports of so called "Divers" getting hurt.

 

[drbill]

I'm not a DM or instructor... don't want the liability, especially given a story like this one.

However, I run into divers every day who don't know the basics and are a risk to themselves and other divers in their area. In the past I've blamed bad training, divers signed up by sales people rather than real divers, and agencies ruled by profit rather than developing competetency.

This post make me rethink this a bit. I've noted that many younger divers (but not all by any means) are not focused on what they are doing whether it be diving, career, etc. If there are people signing up on a lark who are not serious about diving, or those who don't really want to but signed up because their SO dives, it certainly explains some of this.

However, how can a class of non-swimmers be signed up? Certainly when I was certified many years ago we were required to demonstrate swimming ability and the ability to tread water. Are these bo longer required skills by some agencies? If so, that is absurd!

Written by a grouchy old fart looking back at the way things used to be.

Dr. Bill

 

[Cave Diver]

Walter once bubbled...
You are correct, this post does not present you or the instructor in a favorable way. First, these people should never have been accepted into a SCUBA class. Second, your description reveals some aspects of your teaching methods which are, in my opinion, inadequate.

I gotta agree with Walter on this one. After the inital class where there were so many problems, it seems to me that two weekends are not nearly enough to sort this group out. Sounds like they should have been told after the first few hours that they are going to need a lot of additional work, and some additional time should be scheduled.

Pushing people who aren't comfortable from one skill to the next does not bode well for their ability to remember and execute the skill when it's really necessary.

 

[double125's]

There seams to be a rash of deaths and injuries this year. Alot of them seam to be stupidity related. Is this suprising to some. To me it seams tech diving standards are going up and rec diving standards are going down. Thus rec diving injuries and fatalities are on the rise while tech diving accident seam to be down. If I were this instructer (and I relly hope I never advance into insrtucter duty) their is no way I could certify these folks. If you dont do your part as instructer or dm and just hand them a card you are just as guilty as them WHEN they get injured. The way this article was written they are no where ready for open ocean. The instructer needs to remember he is the authority figure, if they dont listen then they get tossed. You dont have to refund their money, they paid for a service, you provided it and they failed the course content. Those who dont listen in your class are the same ones you will be chasing to 200' in the ocean because they "just wanted to go deep".

 

[bwerb]

cold kiwi once bubbled...

im ****ting bricks about our o/w next week when we are in the sea...<SNIP>... we didnt care if we were in there all night they were going to pass everything

This line speaks volumes.

 

[neil]

Walter once bubbled...

You are correct, this post does not present you or the instructor in a favorable way. First, these people should never have been accepted into a SCUBA class. Second, your description reveals some aspects of your teaching methods which are, in my opinion, inadequate.

I agree with this. There is no excuse for the class being in such disarray. The tone should have been set in the first few minutes of pool training, and the widespread lack of swimming ability should have made you pull in the reins from the get-go. There were students actually doing things you told them not to do? Was this a class of adolescents? Maybe you should also figure out a way to position students so you never have to turn your back on them. Sorry to sound so critical, but from the little bit of info you gave, it seems like you and the instructor never had control of this class, in pool or classroom, and it just careened downhill from there. The best advice I could give you in this situation is to stop trying to go forward, step back and regroup. Establish or re-establish goals and expected behavior. As Americans would say, "read them the Riot Act". Live and learn. Good luck in the OW dives.
Neil

 

[sheck33]

I wasnt there so i do not know if this disaster was caused by the Dm and instructor not having a firm grip on the class or not.
But i personally think i good part can probably be attributed to students not having any intention of putting any effort into a class. I see that in every class i help out with. 90% of students just are not serious, they do not take scuba diving seriously, the only reason there are not more fatalities is the fact that most people that get certified never actually continue diving, thank the heavens for that.

as far as the swimming part goes. i think there has been a thread on that. IMHO non-swimmers have no business scuba diving, period.

If you feel the way you feel about the open water dives than:

1. you should tell your instructor that you do not feel comfortable doing those dives.

2. try to convince the instructor that these divers are NOT ready to be in open water.

You dont HAVE to do these dives. Your safety comes first.
I have refused to dive with certain students on several occasions, if the instructor is cutting corners i want no part in it.

just my 3 cents