Zero to Hero? The Good ole' Days? You can't please anyone!

[Cave Diver]

The recent thread located here and some of the subsequent exchanges got me to thinking about something. The comment below, as well as the ones following it reminded me of my own start to diving.

The U.S. Navy Diving Manual and the University of Michigan Research Diver's Manual where both available 40 years ago. 10 years ago the ScubaBoard function was filled by GENIE. Do you really think that all 13 weeks are filled with forcing people to blow bubbles in a shallow water pool for weeks on end? Hardly the case. By the time you finished a semester long class you had the equivalent of OW, AOW, PPD, NITROX, RESCUE, ADV. RESCUE, BOAT DIVING, SURF DIVING, U/W NATURALIST, U/W PHOTOGRAPHY and a few others.

The tone of the discussion was trending towards the fact that diving was much easier today than it was years ago. Rather than being a genuine adventure it's more akin to a "Disneyland Adventure Syndrome" and doesn't require the same degree of training that it used to.

When I started diving, a little over 10 years ago now, I was excited about the potential for adventure. With little opportunity for easy local diving, my first excursions entailed traipsing to every mudhole I could find in Texas. Before I discovered ScubaBoard, there was little info to be found on most of them other than just going to check it out for ourselves.

Not knowing what we'd find ourselves faced with (dark water, entanglement issues, snakes and gators, remote areas, depth, cold, etc.) I took AOW, Nitrox and Rescue courses in rapid succession after finishing up my BOW class.

My forays into local lakes were punctuated with a trip to Cozumel and a couple of trips out to the Flower Gardens before I finally found myself drawn to the springs in Florida, and ultimately to cave diving a year later.

The point of my reflection is that while responding in the other thread I realized that by taking multiple classes (BOW, AOW, Nitrox, Rescue) in rapid succession to prepare for my adventures that I had mimicked the standards of classes that others lament are lost in the days gone by. At the same time I'd effectively done what many criticize as a "Zero to Hero" course where someone goes from relative new status to some sort of advanced certification.

My conclusion is that no matter what happens, there will always be a faction that disagrees with the training methods. Break the class up into several pieces that are quick, cheap and easy and people well tell you how good the OW classes used to be. Take all the training at once and you've gone from "Zero to Hero" and you should slow down and get some experience at your current level in order to get the best out of your training before moving on to the next step.

How do you think training should be?

 

[Thalassamania]

The thing that you're missing there is that after divers finished the sort of course I described in your quote, they were certified as research diver - 30 foot. Qualified to 30 feet, permitted to go to 60 with diver who is qualified to that depth and who is specifically approved as a buddy for that sort of situation. Zero-to-hero is the creation of dive "pros" in record time with no experience outside of the cram course that they just took. Not the same thing at all.

 

[Cave Diver]

The thing that you're missing there is that after divers finished the sort of course I described in your quote, they were certified as research diver - 30 foot. Qualified to 30 feet, permitted to go to 60 with diver who is qualified to that depth and who is specifically approved as a buddy for that sort of situation. Zero-to-hero is the creation of dive "pros" in record time with no experience outside of the cram course that they just took. Not the same thing at all.

I used your quote as a convenient example of the "thoroughness of the training in days of yore." There are numerous examples throughout the board where people have commented that OW, AOW, Rescue, etc. used to all be one course "back in the day."

I've also seen the Zero to Hero applied in instances other than pros as well. One prime example is cave diving, when people take the course all at once, rather than breaking it up into the individual modules of Cavern, Intro and Full Cave.

 

[Thalassamania]

It all depends on the people involved. Now I don't cave dive, I've never had a need to, and I really don't dive "for the fun of it." If I did need to learn to cave dive I'd work with someone whom I respect, as a diver and as a person, for a week and I'd expect that in that time frame they'd rather easily get me to the level of "full cave."

Is that zero to hero? Only if I do not recognize that I'd be about the most highly skilled newbie that the cave diving world had ever seen. Recognizing that, and being the rather conservative bugger that I am, I'd likely make a large number of qualification dives as I moved myself from cavern, out to 200 ft. of penetration, 400 ft., 600 ft., etc. Where I see divers get into trouble is not with courses that teach too much, it is where they get a credential without the experience to deserve the cred, if you know what I mean.

Today they hand an instructor's card to some kid who has been diving for six months and made 100 dives ... more than half of tbhe dives being tea baggers. Now that's what I think of as zero-to-hero.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

If I did need to learn to cave dive I'd work with someone whom I respect, as a diver and as a person, for a week and I'd expect that in that time frame they'd rather easily get me to the level of "full cave."

That's what I thought when I went to Florida last year to do the eight-day course.

Didn't quite work out that way ... I only made it as far as Apprentice Hero.

In retrospect, I'm glad it worked out that way. Gave me a chance to assimilate a bit of what I learned by doing some dives before progressing to Full Hero status (which I hope to achieve in about three weeks).

I figured that with (at the time) over 2,300 dives, full trimix and wreck penetration experience it'd be an easy transition. It wasn't ... caves are a different environment. The physical skills may all be there, but the mental transition takes a bit of practice. And while you might make it to the level of "full cave" ... I know folks who have ... if it happens "rather easily", you picked the wrong instructor and I'd be wary of what you didn't get out of the class ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DCBC]

...I had mimicked the standards of classes that others lament are lost in the days gone by. At the same time I'd effectively done what many criticize as a "Zero to Hero" course where someone goes from relative new status to some sort of advanced certification.

My conclusion is that no matter what happens, there will always be a faction that disagrees with the training methods. Break the class up into several pieces that are quick, cheap and easy and people well tell you how good the OW classes used to be. Take all the training at once and you've gone from "Zero to Hero" and you should slow down and get some experience at your current level in order to get the best out of your training before moving on to the next step.

How do you think training should be?

In the Good ol' Days : The student had to possess good swimming and in-water ability and be medically checked for diving prior to beginning training. After completion of the Basic / OW Course (depending upon the Agency) the student would complete what today would amount to OW, AOW and Rescue courses. The result was a good diver who was prepared to dive as a valued member of a buddy team (and do a sub-surface rescue if required) and dive independently without supervision. The diver could read surf conditions, understand where to enter and exit the water, project air consumption and generally dive safely on the first day of receiving his C-Card.

Now: After completing a 3 day OW course (often in clear warm water) some students (some who can't even swim) have been rushed through a quick program and are guided by DM's in a vacation setting. These people have an option of completing more training, BUT they don't have to. They have a certification that indicates that they can dive independently and dive unsupervised anywhere in the world.

In the first scenario, the diver was provided with a solid foundation in-which s/he could safely develop diving experience. In the second, the diver is not as well prepared.

The reason for the change of training programs (some say) is to give people what they want, not necessarily what they need. As soon as you give someone a card that is recognized world-wide, I believe they should be competent to dive anywhere (not just in warm clear water hand-held on their vacation by a DM). There's nothing the matter with vacation diving, but the card should reflect the training that they have received.

As to how training should be, I think that the OW course should be much more inclusive, as it was in the past (it is the way I still train people today). Those that complete vacation type training programs should be given a certification that reflects their training.

 

[Cave Diver]

In the Good ol' Days : The student had to possess good swimming and in-water ability and be medically checked for diving prior to beginning training.

This may be the portion that's slanting my bias.

I learned to swim at an early age and had family that lived in the tropics that we would visit every summer. I loved the water and would spend every moment I could in and around it. On two different occasions we actually lived there for close to a year and I would spend almost every day after school swimming and snorkeling. Although I never had any "formal" training to swim or snorkel, when I took my dive class as an adult I was extremely comfortable in the water. I had no problem completing any of the skills or doing the swim tests. Same thing when I took my DM course, I had little issue with skills that I've heard others struggle with.

 

[DCBC]

If I did need to learn to cave dive I'd work with someone whom I respect, as a diver and as a person, for a week and I'd expect that in that time frame they'd rather easily get me to the level of "full cave."

I can understand your thoughts on this Thal. I was taught to cave dive by a trusted friend (Dr. George Benjamin) in early 1972. George had been exploring the Blue Holes of Andros as a hobby for years. He had gathered a number of divers to work with him the year before (Frank Martz [who was lost there and never found], Tom Mount, Dick Williams, Jim Lockwood, Phillipe Cousteau & others). George asked me to assist him with mapping (and hauling gear ), so I went there to dive and learn for 3 months.

I suppose that there were courses that were being taught in Florida, but it never occurred to me to go to the expense of going there to learn. George was willing to teach me as I went along. Although George wasn't an instructor (or a certified Cave Diver for that matter), the skills he gave me obviously were sufficient.

There are other ways to learn other than by taking a class. In this day and age, it just seems to be the shortest distance between two points, but as things change sometimes I'm not so sure.

 

[DCBC]

This may be the portion that's slanting my bias. ...I had little issue with skills that I've heard others struggle with.

Yes. My point is that with some agencies even knowing how to swim isn't a requirement for training. It doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to realize that what you start with at the beginning of the process will affect the end result. It's panic waiting to happen.

 

[vshearer]

... tea baggers. Now that's what I think of as zero-to-hero.

How did Sarah Palin get involved in this?