gcarter
Contributor
It might not put you at any more risk, but think about it from the viewpoint of a technical instructor for a minute.
People got upset with me when I quoted that post from a technical instructor whose friends got a little tech learning, put it to use, and then died. To give you an idea of how far they went beyond their training, it will be several years before I have the qualifications for the dive they tried to do, and I have full cave training, advanced trimix certification, and tech instructor certification. In order for them to do the dive, they had to get a key to get into the site. In order to get a key to get into the site, they went to the person in charge of it and asked for it on the grounds that they had no intention of diving--they were just going to go in as good Samaritans and clean up the surface of the site, which had gotten trashed out. They swore they were not diving. Their widows sued the key operator and the company that employed him because he believed them and gave them the key. If that instructor had given them any kind of informal instruction, you can bet he would have been sued as well.
This past Christmas a father and son who had gotten some kind of instruction somewhere without taking a formal class of any kind died doing a decompression dive beyond their ability. The boy wasn't even a certified diver. In the aftermath, the boy's grandfather has tried to get the entire site closed to all divers, and if he were to succeed, one of the greatest advanced dive sites in America will be off limits to everyone because a couple of people got a little advanced training somewhere, dived well beyond their certification level, and died because of stupid mistakes that someone with the proper training would have never made. If it turns out that an identifiable person gave them that informal training, want to take bets on whether or not the family sues?
Even if he or she were to escape legal action, to you have any idea how an instructor would feel if someone who got informal, out of class instruction were to die? Do you have any idea what his or her reputation in the technical diving community would become?
Do you think that a technical diving instructor wants to do something that opens up the possibility that you will use that information and die without the legal protection provided by formal instruction?
EDIT: I did not notice Lorenzoid's post before writing this. I believe we are saying the same thing.
I have no issue with an instructor not wishing to teach any given topic to any given individual for any reason.
Here is what I take issue with: the question was about knowledge training to help effect a mindset. The answers - in words and in attitude - almost all assume such knowledge would be put to bad purpose and should therefore not be shared. The OP has been ridiculed for asking the question and told repeatedly to stick to dives he is qualified for - EVEN THOUGH HE HAS STATED REPEATEDLY THAT HE HAS SUCH TRAINING. Many if not most of the responses are so knee-jerk hostile they seem to have precluded reading comprehension.
The stupid people you have cited as examples did not need any help being stupid. The father and son, by all accounts, sought no training. Not relevant to the OPs question, except to they extent that more knowledge MAY have encouraged them to SEEK training. Your friend's students, based on what you have said here, made a choice to go beyond their training even though they knew better. If they had never met your friend, they would most likely have done so anyway - I doubt your friend instilled that reckless attitude in them. So how is that his fault? It isn't.
If you give me the knowledge component with out the practical and the limitations of that are well communicated, and if I then choose to go beyond those limitations, if your lawyer cannot convince a jury that my stupid decision was not your fault you need a new lawyer.
I ordered Six Skills for myself before doing any post-OW dives. If I had chosen to do something beyond my training based on what I learned from that book, would it have been Steve's fault?
Regardless, as I have said, I have no issue with any individual refusing to teach the knowledge only component. It is the attitudes expressed in many of the posts that I dislike.