Should all instructors really have ALL their own equipment?

[YoyoSponge]

As an assistant instructor, I'm a little fed up with ITC's saying "you must have all your own gear" as a prerequisite for the Instructor Training Course.
In my honest opinion, and in the opinion of many instructors I've talked to, an instructor using the same equipment as the student during a course is not only a matter of comfort and understanding for the student, but also a matter of safety.
So why should I have all my own gear before I get my first job? Shouldn't I use the same gear as my students?
Why do so many dive centers require instructors to bring their own gear if it is a potential safety issue?
Is it merely a matter of expenses paid and wear on equipment?
Is it reasonable to require your staff to have their own gear if they are teaching?
Are instructors not going to take better care of your equipment if they are required to use it alongside the customers?

 

[Hawkwood]

On a very practical level, students are the priority for rental equipment....they get the equipment first. As an instructor (or a DMC, DM), you'd be taking an awful chance that there is equipment available to you after everything is all said and done. How will you teach? As an example, we've have had weekends were every single tank is out for students. What happens if all the wetsuits or drysuits in your size are taken by students?

We expect the DMC's to have their own equipment, or be well along the path of having the majority of it.

We do not have to have the "same" equipment as the students.

 

[skankpile]

Definitely not, don't buy a thing. I trust instructors more when I know they just took the class and have no equipment with their 5000+ dives and years of experience. It keeps them from having preferences and customizing the equipment which confuses the students.

 

[yardpro]

the other thing is the bling...

seeing you decked out with cool gear and a wing, the students will want to look cool like you and spend tremendous amounts of moneh with the dive shop buying unecessary gear that they will only use for three more dives before they give up scuba and then sell it to me for pennies on the dollar....

come on man... get with the program...


seriously...

i would think that on the path to instructor you would have already acquired your own gear... i mean really... you dive enough to be an instructor and still rent gear.... that would be a major red flag to me....

lastly no offense, but most of the rental gear is questionable...

most wet suits are somewhat tattered, bc's usually leak, most rental bc's i have seen lack integrated weights,....

if you are in the water a lot, you SHOULD want something that fits you and is comfortable, and not used by every joe smhoe that comes through the dive shop...

 

[oreocookie]

Where I work, it would be difficult to wear exactly the same gear as the students. While most of our rental BCs are the same model, we have a few that aren't, and we've got 3 or 4 different brands for regs... how can I wear what the students are wearing if the students aren't even all wearing the same thing? Then there's the issue of students who buy their gear before the course, most likely they're not buying what we have as rentals.

 

[oldschoolto]

Definitely not, don't buy a thing. I trust instructors more when I know they just took the class and have no equipment with their 5000+ dives and years of experience. It keeps them from having preferences and customizing the equipment which confuses the students.

But you forgot the smiley face.....

Jim....

 

[Ste Wart]

Hmm should I wear the bargain basement shop equipment and urine-soaked wetsuits or should I have my own kit?

Tough call

 

[rhwestfall]

I'm a carpenter..... Can I borrow your hammer and saw?
I'm a mechanic..... Can I borrow your socket set?
I'm a farmer.... Can I borrow your tractor?
I'm a captain..... Can I borrow your boat?
Really?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Why should an instructor trainer waste time on someone who is not committed enough to.the activity to own their own gear by the time they get to DM. Let alone AI or Instructor. I expect my advanced open water students to supply their own gear. Do the IT a favor. Don't become an instructor.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[tomfcrist]

Wow Jim, tell us how you really feel