Trace, Thal, et al -- If basic dive instruction (and here I really do mean entry level) were done, and had been done, to YOUR minimum standards, as opposed to mine for example, what do you believe would be the state of the industry today? Would "scuba diving" as a [what, sport, activity, experience, ?] be wide spread and at least "experienced" by many (as it appears to be the case today) or would it be a pretty limited activity with a talented, but limited, audience (as I look at rock climbing or sky diving, although I have no idea of the numbers, just impressions).
Assuming your basic OW classes were the norm, do you believe there would be many people taking those classes? If so, would your guess be at 100% of today's level, 50%, ? Yes, this is wild-a$$-guessing -- but what does YOUR gut tell you?
And do you think the whole industry would be better off with your system? (And why?)
Peter,
There have been posts made by instructors here who have never taken or have taught the type of courses that Thal, DCBC, and I have described. Mud has been slung without any experience only assumption. Put another way, it can be considered "marketing" of a "new and improved" technique. For 30 years, diving had been increasing in popularity. For the past 30 years, it has been decreasing in popularity.
Marketing strategies and DEMA reports can say anything they want. The city of Scranton, Pennsylvania where PDIC has their HQ had two stores of its own to compete with two PADI dive centers, two SSI dive centers, an NASDS dive center, a YMCA instructor, a NAUI instructor and NSS-CDS instructor offering courses. Now, PDIC's dive shop is mostly closed. The SSI facilities are gone. The NASDS center is SDI. And, the two independents are not teaching. A new kayak store about 1 hour from the SDI store is now also offering SDI courses.
For students, 7 possible paths to instruction have dwindled to 2 in 30 years.
For those experienced divers who travel, how many divers were on an average dive boat 20 or 30 years ago in the islands compared to now? Less, right? Where did many of those divers come from? Local divers on vacation or escaping the cold to dive. Less local diving reduces the number of divers traveling to resorts.
Local divers need to be comfortable divers. Today's training model, even if you toss out anything considered "military" from the past, is not a very good model for creating a comfortable active local diver outside of the local divers in Florida. However, while the Keys may be warm, they've got some pretty good stuff to toss at you. Big waves and strong currents are an every other day deal.
Divers need time to adjust to skills that will see them moving into hood, gloves and thicker wetsuits. They also need time to be moved into those experiences in open water gradually. Early season and late season OW training dives are too cold! I cannot believe I am being attacked by members of this board for being some sort of Spanish Inquisitor or drill instructor when I would never be so heartless and Spartan to make my students endure cold temperatures that do not foster learning. At PDIC HQ, we had lots of OW pool classes all year and instructors completed OW training from late June through early September. If you think having a student deal with a flooded mask is bad, try making them clear it in 50 F water or less for their first OW dives! Sadists!
The transition to colder water is better handled when the student has had a high degree of skill development, an entire OW dive devoted to quality snorkeling and freediving, and then progressing the student into OW scuba skills.
5 - 6 class & pool sessions plus 5 OW dives is not some sort of Bataan death march of a class. Many of us who know what a quality diver an OW diver can be from teaching such courses would argue that 7 - 8 days is needed to produce a skilled and comfortable diver with an escape instinct trained out. That time frame can be shortened for private lessons, maybe for 1 or 2 students, but other than that, the 7 day time frame is minimum.
The industry agreed for many years - until PADI decided to focus on resorts as the standard geography of diver education. PADI competed with other agencies for control of local dive centers, but it dominated the resorts. PADI took the magazines, media, the ideas for training and focused everyone on the resort waters that they dominated. PADI-chasers such as SSI followed and standards for diver training began to change to meet an environment such as Bonaire that today's OW standards allows divers to safely enjoy in an atmosphere lead by dive professionals. This began the decline of the sport.
Why? Because those that stumble upon it while on vacation or those that would like to try it, don't dive much and only on vacation. The original average 7 day courses became 3 days of pool and 2 days of open water to accommodate people who just didn't want to spend all their time in class while on vacation. Those that dive locally support the industry at home and abroad because they will take trips.
Many divers who would enjoy local or cold water diving are being "marketed" away from it.
Many divers who would also enjoy being better trained and prepared for the challenges of local diving are being "marketed" away from that training.
They are told lies such as that sort of training is unnecessary or unsafe by people who have no experience other than since divers aren't dropping dead like flies, less training is adequate and more thorough training is worthless. As Lynne pointed out her favorite quote from Mike Edmonston is that, "An unexploded goat is not proof of the quality of decompression," or something to that effect.
While we cannot prove or disprove the effect that tougher standards or lessened standards have on diving safety, common sense will tell us that:
1) Divers who are safely prepared for every eventuality and have developed true proficiency will be ready to handle those eventualities when they become realities.
2) Local diving markets are shrinking. They were thriving when training was more difficult and standards were higher. This does not mean that higher standards create more local divers, but what it does mean is that higher standards did not detract people from diving locally. Local divers support two markets. Resort divers support just one. Everyone in the diving industry would benefit by larger markets being supported.
3) Local diving will often pose greater challenges. To prepare divers for such challenges, these challenges must be addressed. To address more challenges takes time.
4) Diver who can handle greater challenges will be safer and more skilled than divers who have little or no experience with being trained to handle such challenges. Juggling multiple problems in training makes it easier to handle one problem in reality.
And, to answer King's question about wanting cave trained instructors, yes, I look to recruit candidates who are highly trained divers such as cave divers and cave instructors for PDIC and PSAI.
Quantity helps the industry. Quality helps the student. I work for my students. The business of diving may not be diving, but education is my business.
