I recently attended a meeting in which we were split into focus groups to solve problems within the industry as we approached 2020. Each group universally agreed that both diver and instructor training is poor and this is the primary industry problem that needs immediate resolution. What wasn't agreed upon is how to fix it. When bringing back "old school" training was mentioned, people immediately worried that we would lose some divers - especially women or older divers.
I am a firm believer that anyone who thinks women aren't motivated enough or capable of such training is sexist and don't give women any credit. In my experience women want to play on the same teams and by the same standards as men.
Regarding age differences, there is no reason why performance differences shouldn't simply be age-adjusted like marathons or the Army physical fitness test.
I think the heart and soul of the diving industry are the young people who wish to be challenged. By removing the challenge we are removing the youth who are striving to prove themselves and in the process gain life experiences which will help them be better for it. I think we are losing the many for the sake of the few.
Yet, I believe everyone should be able to dive. The success of handicapped diving programs proves that. But, we can accommodate the needs of the few while still allowing divers to really earn C-cards that are universally respected.
I am a DM right now, on-track to take my ITC in May, so I have been in a few discussions about the current state of dive training. Whenever I mention that we should borrow some lessons from the past and maybe be a little more "hardcore" or otherwise raise the bar, I am roundly shouted down using the EXACT same logic: "we'll lose women, kids, warm-water vacation divers."
Well, IMHO, watering down training is NOT how you attract people. Shoot, the shop I work for got pissed when we were taking students to a lake an hour away because it had better diving than the mudhole, (little more than a "natural" swimming pool), 15 minutes away. They said that students won't drive an hour to go dive. I responded that we tell them up-front where the OW checkout dives are, and not a single one has backed out because it was "too far". I know it's a stupid example, but still.
Set the bar, tell people where it is, and they will rise to it. Now, (since my exposure to some more rigorous training), we are working with students on skills neutral and trimmed out. The days of "on your knees" or being vertical in the water column are OVER.
I am prior Army, and while I wasn't the best fit in the Army, (hence why I got out), it taught me a lot of good things and I grew a lot, so maybe I'm not "wired right" to evaluate diving instruction, but I would like it more "military". I REALLY think the dive industry needs a change in how they do things, and they may actually need to "regress" and be a little more old-school.
It's sad that I am nostalgic for an era I wasn't even alive in, but I look around at divers today, (myself included), and can't help but think we've been shortchanged. As an OW diver, I knew NOTHING about PROPER trim and buoyancy and the required level of competence I SHOULD have in the water. It was an "unknown unknown". Well, now I know, after being exposed to more training and meeting more divers, and I am positively DISGUSTED that I wasn't shown or held to that standard from Day One.
