Advice for my younger brother

[IDMike]

My fiancee' and my 13 year old brother are both taking a scuba class to become NAUI certified scuba divers next month. They're both doing the bookwork online because of time constraints and the location of our dive shop, and we're having some trouble engaging him. He's a smart kid, and he passed the final exam with a 77%, but we're a little worried that he's not absorbing the material as he should or becoming fully knowledgeable of the subject matter and instead of applying himself he's just trying to pass.

It frustrates my fiancee' who will be his diving partner because she worries he doesn't really understand or respect the buddy system. I'm not entirely sure what to think. He's wanted to be a scuba diver like me for the last couple of years and he's an excellent snorkeler, but he's never been the type of person who learns well sitting behind a desk. I'm hoping all of this will be ironed out when he does the actual pool training and open water dives with the instructor. They'll be training with an instructor here in Idaho and I trust him completely as an excellent and competent instructor. I'm just wondering if there's more we could be doing on our end to help him become a better scuba diver and develop a higher appreciation for learning.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Forget about the time constraints and enroll him a regular class. 77% is barely passing. I hope the instructor insists on remediating everything he missed. It is entirely possible that he is not yet mature enough to dive. If your fiance has concerns about him as a dive buddy she should refuse to dive with him.

If he does not show signs of being a good buddy or someone the instructor would not trust someone they cared about to dive with him, he will not be issued a cert. Or he should not be. That is part of the NAUI cert process. The instructor must be able to say that he would allow someone he cared about to dive with your brother with no professional present.

If he is just trying to get by he is likely not yet ready to be certified. This is something that his life and that of his buddy may depend on. Putting it that way may wake him up. Screwing up or not getting the material could mean someone gets seriously hurt or worse.

I am now part of an agency that has on line learning. I would not however recommend it for a jr diver. I have taught a number of kids and assisted with several dozen. Even the best of them I would insist have face to face instruction for just the reasons you stated. It is too easy for them to get into a "if I just get a passing grade I'll be ok" mentality. Face to face an instructor can see that and address it immediately. If he is in fact doing this your fiance is well served being concerned. She should listen to that little voice.

Have you put it to him how serious a matter this is? Would he be able to appreciate the seriousness of it. If not I would not accept him as a student.

 

[JamesK]

Jim makes excellent points. I would try to schedule some one on one time with the instructor for some q&a going both ways. I would also ask for more pool time after the initial pool work to concentrate solely on buddy skills.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Agreed and do that before he goes on his open water checkout dives. Good idea James.

 

[TSandM]

Is this something he really WANTS to do? If so, someone can set some limits, and say, "You retake the test with a 90% or better, or you don't get to do the dives, because we're not spending the money to do this if you aren't interested in working at it." His response will measure how much he wants the class.

That said, you can go through the classroom material and pull, for example, some stories from the "near misses" subforum here, to illustrate WHY certain ideas are important. Giving the "dry" stuff from the book some context and some color may make it more palatable for a young teen.

And finally, we worked with a 13 year old last year, whose father and older brother were also taking the class. It became clear that he was far more interested in being oppositional than in learning to dive, and we finally told his parents that he needs to grow up quite a bit before he is reading to be a diver. Kids are different -- some 13 year olds are incredibly mature and focused, and others are seriously mired in adolescence.

 

[RonFrank]

You need to Beat the learning into the child! :smash:

He maybe too immature to take diving seriously. That's a decision that the parents need to discuss. Threatening IMO is not the answer. The Test is seriously easy, so the question is why did he do so poorly and is this kid responsible enough to handle diving.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I know on line learning from kindergarten through graduate school is all the rage, but I do not like it generally, and and especially not for kids (13 year olds included). I endorse Jim's view on this. But the agencies allow it, so there should be a briefing to the instructor before the pool sessions as to your concerns. The instructor will (should) remediate as needed. I find that kids are attentive and teachable face to face, and the pool sessions will provide that engagement. Meanwhile, IDMike, you might provide the face to face stuff- talk to him about diving- and raise things like being responsible, being a goof buddy, safety and prevention of possible dangerous issues. You can talk, and teach scuba, while going for a walk, fishing, eating dinner, washing dishes. Some people (your's truly) seem to never stop. Since you are alert to the issue, I am confident it will be resolved and your brother will become a good and safe diver, and dive buddy. Be a mentor.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Malpaso]

some 13 year olds are incredibly mature and focused, and others are seriously mired in adolescence.

This is it in a nutshell. I've taught firearms for a long time. Age is not a definitive qualifier or dis-qualifier, maturity and common sense are. I've taught 13 year olds who I would certify and 50 year olds who I would not.

 

[Herb-alaska]

I would first ask how well he does in school. Some folks just do not learn well in a formal setting and that is why we have tech schools where less book work and more hands on application.

If he has the ability that is demonstrated by good grades then I would say that he is not taking scuba seriously and I would tell him sorry I am not going to allow you to kill yourself or another person because you are to lazy to pay attention.

If he does average or less in school I would say that he needs a different learning format. My nephew failed his drivers permit 6 times with his mom yelling at him to study the book. I sat at McDonalds with him for 90 minutes and then walked him over and he passed and only missed one question. He could not get past getting the information from the book to his head. I took the information and placed it in life situations ( story problems ) and that made his connection.

Take the information and have him work it out Give him a NDL chart and have him work out bottom times. take him virtual scuba diving have him walk you through a emergency situation Have him do a buddy check

have him walk a dive and talk about why you place your body where so that your buddy can be in visual contact with him.

But if he is just lazy tell him to call me in a year when he has grown up

 

[coglesby]

Aside from drills and calculations, the below link is from a march 2011 SB post..... I love posing these questions to divers in classes. Good stuff. Also, Jim Lapenta's "Sticky" about 'Who is responsible for what' would really be good for the young man to read also, as it is a sobering reality of what can happen in the sport when rules are not respected.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...514-what-if-what-do-when-things-go-wrong.html