I was taught Scuba twice, well sort of. In the first instance, the instructor was never with us in the water (1969) and the only real skill we learned was to not die. When I actually got certified back in '98 or '99, I was taught by a caver who complained about the fact that we did some skills on our knees. I was taught to pull and glide whenever practical and hands on the bottom were accepted but knees not so much. Now, my mantra during classes I teach are "You're not a boat and you're not an anchor: you're a fish." This is where art imitates life, and we try to be as fishy neutral as possible.
From the moment someone takes an interest in learning Scuba from me, I point out that I teach differently than the vast majority of instructors. Rather than teaching from the bottom up, I teach from the top down and everything is done while being neutral. I've had instructors think I was teaching advanced open water and even a cave class when they saw my students in the pool and even in open water. I've even been called a liar and a charlatan right here on ScubaBoard for contending that all skills (even scuba doff and don) should be done mid water. While I love the comments, they tend to inflate my ego and I value humility even more than I value being neutral. I also find it hard to not judge other instructors when I see their classes kneel. I do. I see it all the time down here in Key Largo. I try to keep an open mind and keep telling myself that just because I don't teach one way, doesn't make their way wrong. Unfortunately, I find myself pointing out the kneelers to my students and friends and shaking my head. On one hand, I don't want to be a snob but on the other hand, I rather enjoy it.
I was taught to make my students kneel in my NAUI ITC back in 2001. They were to have both knees on the bottom and I was to have one knee and one fin. This was all couched in terms of being in control of your class at all times. A noble sentiment which unfortunately churns up a lot of the local sediments. When I first started to reject the premise that students should be taught on their knees, maintaining control was paramount in my mind. However, I found that teaching the skill of being neutral also gave my student all the control they needed. It also gave them confidence and accelerated their learning curve when it came to being balanced and trim. I first taught them to do their skills on their knees and then again, while neutral. Even in OW, I had them kneel to demonstrate and then they had to do it mid water as well. I remember teaching a class at Alexander Springs on a Saturday. I had a class of seven, and the park already had seven or eight classes being taught there that day. When we got into the spring, I couldn't find any underwater real estate that wasn't already covered in kneelers. So, in a departure from how I had been teaching, I had them do all their skills mid water, just above the other classes. I saw a lot of confused instructors that day. No, I hadn't quite figured out how to do the doff and don neutrally at that time, so that was fun, fun, fun to watch. I had one student hit the bottom and the others kind of flailed away until they got it back on and somehow managed to avoid kicking the classes below them. The discussions with a couple of the instructors there that day were priceless. One clearly thought I had violated standards for AOW. When I pointed out that it was actually an OW class he was really upset. He was going to report me to NAUI and all that. Yeah, I value humility but this was fun if not a bit ego building. I had really stirred the pot by not teaching in the traditional manner. I still see a lot of that here on ScubaBoard as we discuss the pros and cons of going full neutral. Some instructors maintain that we are violating standards by teaching responsibly. It's kind of funny and kind of sad. Here's a good read on it:
ScubaBoard - Scuba Diving Forum - Diving Social Network - How a Small Group of Instructors Spurred Reform in Scuba Instruction
Here's the bottom, er, mid water line. Teaching evolves and great instructors learn from that evolution. No, Scuba instruction is not the same it used to be back in the day. I am happy about that! Some want to call it "dumbing down", but I don't see it that way. Evolution has a way of making many tasks easier to do and some people erroneously equate hard with being better. No, it's just harder and often counter productive. I remember the first set of fins I bought from a little shop in Orlando back in 1969. The biggest selling point was that I could kick the crap out of the reef without doing any harm to the fin. Wow. Matter of fact, I still own those fins and they do not look beat up.
With the current focus on the environment, I doubt that I would hear that benefit given in any LDS today. Some, if not most of the changes in this industry are good! As one ScubaBoarder put it: Here's to snobbish amounts of trim and neutral buoyancy. May your fins look ever new!
Fins under you? PLEASE don't do that when you get to my reefs in Key Largo. Sorry Tampa, It's not just you. It's a large percentage of the instructors/students that come down here and kick up our fragile reefs.
