Mr 100 Dive Wonder Instructor

[Scotty g]

I think there are many things that could or may be improved. Those things are far more in depth for me to comment on due to my inexperience of this sport so i won't get into that.

I think that there will be good and bad in every profession/hobby/pastime you could have. As an example, my cousin has just passed his driving test, he's 18. I'll get in the car with him waaaaaaaay before my grandad. Geez, an ad goes out in the local rag to stay off the road when my grandad is due to take the car for a run:11: He's awful but he's been driving over 50 years and thinks youngsters are lunatics. Its a vicious circle.

BTW, i found the post interesting. I don't mind reading.:14:

Scotty

 

[BabyDuck]

charles, that was...horrifying. i felt bad watching it at first, like 'they are brand new, of course they suck, yeah the instructors should be helping them get it together more, but i hate to see this. like watching a train wreck.'

then the ending - wow. just wow.

azza, i liked the story, i thought you had a point to make that wasn't 'look how wonderful i am', and you're a good writer.

yep, lynne, mentors are the key to everything. i couldn't agree more with that!

 

[Carribeandiver]

wow, you should never post again....that was effing long, i didnt even finsih reading it.

so I guess reading a book or short story is totally out of the question, eh?

 

[MikeFerrara]

What is the point of telling this story. Did it really help that the new instructor did not ever receive help to become "competent". Should we always be sceptical about the competence of our instructors?

Should we be skeptical? That depends. According to agency standards this instructor is qualified. Many other instructors are qualified by the same standards. I think our confidence in instructors should be directly linked to our confidence in the standards that qualify them.

I'm very skeptical or recreational diving instructors.

Dive education, like most education is tough for students since they don't always know when they have a good instructor. While the story is a good detailed yarn, I do not see what we are to make of it and how to correct this problem.

Is there a problem? It's esy enough to identify potential problems in the standards and thins that are missing. It's easy enough to show that there are a lot of divers out there that aren't very good. but...it's a product and if consimers are happy buying that product, there isn't really a problem.

 

[andydiver06]

Nice Point Scotty. Another thing is whether a person has the patience or has any teaching experience ( and love to teach) in other fields of life. A 20 year 100 D instructor and a 30 year 100 D previous schools teacher may be quite different. But experience does count. Just logging dive is not enough. Different environments, different skills are definitely required by a instructor.

 

[Kev's First Mate]

I enjoyed reading your story Azza, even though it was pretty sad that an instructor could act that way.

I have had the opportunity to take courses from different instructors and dive masters from our LDS. For the most part, I was happy with their instruction. However, it wasn't until I was in my rescue course that a divemaster actually spent time with me in the pool to get the right fit BC and weight issue straight.

I am now seriously considering becoming a divemaster. Observing other instructors, divemasters, and fellow divers has helped me see skills that I would like to pass on to future divers.

Thanks for the story and for speaking up. I believe you did the right thing by helping the other students and by speaking to the shop owner about the actions/attitude of the instructor.

 

[xiSkiGuy]

Here you go. The best part is the ending.

Wow! That is both extremely funny and very sad at the same time.

 

[TomP]

Azza - Loved the story but with all due respect I think you may have let yourself off a little too easy. That said, I'm not a DM and can't say for sure what I’d have done under the same circumstances but here’s my view.

Three things seemed clear to me from your post:

First, Mr. 100DWI believed he was acting appropriately - as frightening as that may seem.

Second, you were convinced that he was incompetent and as such putting the students lives at risk.

Third, that despite the warning signs and specific policy violations you made a conscious decision to continue anyway. And, that that decision was based primarily on not jeopardizing your own Instructor aspirations and possibly the reputation of the dive shop.

Perhaps you should have called the dive on the shore. All’s well that ends well but suppose that something had gone horribly wrong? A jury might see you as a would be hero, or maybe just an accomplice.

 

[anakin]

Originally Posted by SparticleBrane
Here you go. The best part is the ending.

Man that video was hard to watch. I like how the one diver helped the 'instructor in training' start his ascent by pulling on his tank.

One of the main reasons for the small rate of returning divers is: A huge amount of the people signed up for open water classes, are people who are going on there 'trip of a life time' and they might want to dive while they are there, so they sign up for a diving course. The student mentality is that they want to get the class done as quick as possible, because there leaving on there trip in a few weeks (they usually leave diving lessons to the last minute). Plus they want to do it for as cheap as possible, since there already spending tonnes of money on there trip, and they think prices for the OW class are fairly pricey. Then theres the fact that they put hardly any effort into reading the required material or watching the videos.

This can be very frustrating as instructor, because the students arent putting forth the effort to learn, or even to pay attention half the time. Even when you make it apparent that paying attention and home study is a huge part of the learning process for the course. So when you tell students that you will not train them because they did not do there reading, they get mad and often ask for there money back and usually go to some other shop for a quicker/easier solution(in my experiences).

This can put a great deal of pressure on instructors (from shop owners, bosses, etc.) to make them pass anyways. Not to mention it has put great pressures on agencies to make it easier to pass scuba courses, which is why we get low standards. You can see were the disgusting cycle comes in.

My point here, is the reason there is so many bad divers is not just due to the fact the were trained by a bad instructor, its that they didnt want to or just didnt care enough to put forth the effort to become good divers. Now on the other hand it is amazing how much better a student is when they pay attention, cause the catch the details. And i can get so mutch more skill and knowledge across, and they are usually the ones you see signed up for the next course, and attending the next club dives. ; )

 

[oly5050user]

Man that video was hard to watch. I like how the one diver helped the 'instructor in training' start his ascent by pulling on his tank.

One of the main reasons for the small rate of returning divers is: A huge amount of the people signed up for open water classes, are people who are going on there 'trip of a life time' and they might want to dive while they are there, so they sign up for a diving course. The student mentality is that they want to get the class done as quick as possible, because there leaving on there trip in a few weeks (they usually leave diving lessons to the last minute). Plus they want to do it for as cheap as possible, since there already spending tonnes of money on there trip, and they think prices for the OW class are fairly pricey. Then theres the fact that they put hardly any effort into reading the required material or watching the videos.

This can be very frustrating as instructor, because the students arent putting forth the effort to learn, or even to pay attention half the time. Even when you make it apparent that paying attention and home study is a huge part of the learning process for the course. So when you tell students that you will not train them because they did not do there reading, they get mad and often ask for there money back and usually go to some other shop for a quicker/easier solution(in my experiences).

This can put a great deal of pressure on instructors (from shop owners, bosses, etc.) to make them pass anyways. Not to mention it has put great pressures on agencies to make it easier to pass scuba courses, which is why we get low standards. You can see were the disgusting cycle comes in.

My point here, is the reason there is so many bad divers is not just due to the fact the were trained by a bad instructor, its that they didnt want to or just didnt care enough to put forth the effort to become good divers. Now on the other hand it is amazing how much better a student is when they pay attention, cause the catch the details. And i can get so mutch more skill and knowledge across, and they are usually the ones you see signed up for the next course, and attending the next club dives. ; )

agree with you completely.i have been known after interviewing prospective student to send them home..they do not want to make the commitment both in time and $ for the activity and I feel that for their best interest they should do a discover scuba on their "trip of a lifetime" and not be in my class and waste both our time.They question the value of something as inexpensive as owning their own mask fin snorkel set they should not take up diving.