DaleC
Contributor
To me, an instructor is made up of his/her knowledge base, their presentation style and their motivation for teaching. All of these components make up "the instructor" and (for me) are now factored in when deciding which if any I would choose. In some cases I would choose a competent mentor over an officially designated instructor if they lacked something meaningful in those three areas. For most people (myself included) there really isn't any "choice" at the OW level as non divers have no real way to gauge the proficiency of different agencies or the competency of their instructors (or whether they may be better served by a mentor). It is only post OW (and with some experience) that a diver begins to have some ability to judge varying system values.
Of course, that is just the opinion of an ordinary diver. In a thread asking whether instructors are neccisary I feel it is appropriate to add an insight from someone who may be a client/student of an instructor/mentor. Having only instructors answer the question might seem a little self serving (though I am impressed with the intelligent, self critical responses that Thal, DCBC, I Dive and others have given). I also respect the opinion of people like Captain who is as far from formalized instruction as one can get yet his posts always contain meaningful insights that I learn from.
I became curious as to why some people become instructors even before this thread. Several of my buddies have recently gone "pro" (for various reasons) but I took a left turn after AOW and put a moratorium on further training for a while, prefering to just log dives and gain experience (in order to assimilate the knowledge I already have gained). I don't judge my friends in any way (btw) and often joke that I will be the last amatuer in the crowd.
1. Some I know, do so because they enjoy diving and want to pass their love of it to others. These instructors (from my personal experience) tend to do a great job and usually don't have a problem with mentoring as well as instructing. Now that I know better, these are the types of instructors I seek out when there is an area of diving I feel would be better served by formal instruction rather than mentoring. I have said before that I am most interested in being taught "how to think" which is not something every instructor can do.
2. Some do so because they tend to view life as a linear progression and it is the next rung on the ladder as presented by whatever agency they belong to. Unless one wishes to pursue technical diving there is a flat spot after AOW/Rescue (and some specialties). Of course this plateau is where one is supposed to just gain experience via diving but some people feel they need to always be progressing in some measurable, definative way. The next natural step in some agencies is DMing and instructing.
3. Some people like to travel and dive and instructing allows them to do so and some do so (DMing anyways) because they get free air and discounts on specialty courses.
4. Some do so because they lack the self confidence to just be ordinary divers (or people for that matter). They have fragile egos and seek out titles or status in all areas of their lives (or avoid the areas they cannot achieve it). At home they will be the boss, at work they will always make sure you know their title. They are very good at talking but not so good at listening. You can usually tell them apart by the fact that they cannot brook people questioning their authority and tend to use their position to gain pats on the back (and feel poorly done by if they don't get them). They tend to hang on the words of those they consider peers as it re inforces their status and unlike the instructors in group #1 they tend to dismiss the POV of those without credentials (falsely thinking that others in their class also discriminate on the basis of title alone).
Of course, mentors can be just as liable as instructors to teach for the right or wrong reasons. This is why I take the stance that both can be useful in learning how to dive and that one group should not exclude or negate the other.
Of course, that is just the opinion of an ordinary diver. In a thread asking whether instructors are neccisary I feel it is appropriate to add an insight from someone who may be a client/student of an instructor/mentor. Having only instructors answer the question might seem a little self serving (though I am impressed with the intelligent, self critical responses that Thal, DCBC, I Dive and others have given). I also respect the opinion of people like Captain who is as far from formalized instruction as one can get yet his posts always contain meaningful insights that I learn from.
I became curious as to why some people become instructors even before this thread. Several of my buddies have recently gone "pro" (for various reasons) but I took a left turn after AOW and put a moratorium on further training for a while, prefering to just log dives and gain experience (in order to assimilate the knowledge I already have gained). I don't judge my friends in any way (btw) and often joke that I will be the last amatuer in the crowd.
1. Some I know, do so because they enjoy diving and want to pass their love of it to others. These instructors (from my personal experience) tend to do a great job and usually don't have a problem with mentoring as well as instructing. Now that I know better, these are the types of instructors I seek out when there is an area of diving I feel would be better served by formal instruction rather than mentoring. I have said before that I am most interested in being taught "how to think" which is not something every instructor can do.
2. Some do so because they tend to view life as a linear progression and it is the next rung on the ladder as presented by whatever agency they belong to. Unless one wishes to pursue technical diving there is a flat spot after AOW/Rescue (and some specialties). Of course this plateau is where one is supposed to just gain experience via diving but some people feel they need to always be progressing in some measurable, definative way. The next natural step in some agencies is DMing and instructing.
3. Some people like to travel and dive and instructing allows them to do so and some do so (DMing anyways) because they get free air and discounts on specialty courses.
4. Some do so because they lack the self confidence to just be ordinary divers (or people for that matter). They have fragile egos and seek out titles or status in all areas of their lives (or avoid the areas they cannot achieve it). At home they will be the boss, at work they will always make sure you know their title. They are very good at talking but not so good at listening. You can usually tell them apart by the fact that they cannot brook people questioning their authority and tend to use their position to gain pats on the back (and feel poorly done by if they don't get them). They tend to hang on the words of those they consider peers as it re inforces their status and unlike the instructors in group #1 they tend to dismiss the POV of those without credentials (falsely thinking that others in their class also discriminate on the basis of title alone).
Of course, mentors can be just as liable as instructors to teach for the right or wrong reasons. This is why I take the stance that both can be useful in learning how to dive and that one group should not exclude or negate the other.