Have training standards "slipped"?

[cold_water]

In the dark ages when I was first certified, you were a diver or not, period.

Back then it was go dive, dive with someone better than you and get better. I still advocate the mentor strategy, but with classes to back that up.
Eric

Like you I was certified in '79, the training was much more thorough back then but I don't believe it was all necessary to be a recreational scuba diver. By the same token I don't know if someone can learn all the should (enough to become an independent diver) in just a couple of days. I think it would depend on how well prepared the person was prior to the start of the class.

I was certified in '97 and I think I had a pretty good instructor with stringent requirements. We did do buddy breathing (although might not have been while surfacing, I can't remember), there was a fair bit of swimming involved, towing unconsious diver (which I actually used with a panicking diver with a cramp not too long after that), etc, etc.

My question for those certified in the dark ages (as one poster put it, no offense) is whether you feel you were an independent diver when you came out of your certification class? After my OW class, I definitely wasn't and didn't feel qualified to plan a dive for me and a buddy. For those that got certified 20 years before I did, coming out of that class, did you feel comfortable (and actually, do you think you were capable of) planning a dive for only you and your buddy? (That's what I'd call an independent diver.)

 

[Hemlon]

My question for those certified in the dark ages (as one poster put it, no offense) is whether you feel you were an independent diver when you came out of your certification class? After my OW class, I definitely wasn't and didn't feel qualified to plan a dive for me and a buddy. For those that got certified 20 years before I did, coming out of that class, did you feel comfortable (and actually, do you think you were capable of) planning a dive for only you and your buddy? (That's what I'd call an independent diver.)

If the dive was in SIMILAR conditions to that in which I was certified, then yes!

 

[Thalassamania]

Dude, neutral bouyancy was not taught in the 70s. Do you really think the current emphasis by insctructors on this important skill has declined? It grows stronger every year. Doing pushups in full gear, trying to buddy breathe to the surface, jumping in to find and then don your gear are all testosterone laden skills that are NEVER needed by the average open water diver.

Dude, we taught neutral buoyancy in the 1970s (and earlier), no one has ever done pushups in our classes (in gear or without) but we did (and still do) buddy breathe to the surface, perform bail outs and full doff and dons. No testosterone involved, male and female, young and old, all do them without problem or complaint. As to their utility ... you can try and parse it till the cows come home but a zero fatality rate says it all.

 

[Nemrod]

The short answer is YES--dramatically so--especially post 1980 or so. N

 

[Hemlon]

Dude, we taught neutral buoyancy in the 1970s (and earlier), no one has ever done pushups in our classes (in gear or without) but we did (and still do) buddy breathe to the surface, perform bail outs and full doff and dons. No testosterone involved, male and female, young and old, all do them without problem or complaint. As to their utility ... you can try and parse it till the cows come home but a zero fatality rate says it all.

I'm confused...you are claiming that your certifying agency has had NO fatalities?

 

[Thalassamania]

I'm confused...you are claiming that your certifying agency has had NO fatalities?

Actually that's for the entire scientific diving community, regardless of what agency was used for certification (though it was usually NAUI, YMCA or LA County). No fatalities and a bends rate an order of magnitude better than that of the recreational community despite having protocols that permit diving air to 200 feet.

 

[jeckyll]

Hmm... Had never heard of GUE and just started looking at some of their info. It definitely sounds like they are rigorous. Very interesting, considering I'd like to not die.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=184142

Training report of our Fundies course. If you're really interested I should warn you know, they got cookies ... over on the dark side

 

[Hemlon]

Actually that's the entire scientific diving community, regardless of what agency they certified through.

Tell us what exactly you mean by the "entire scientific diving community". Without verifiable parameters, it's impossible to confirm or contradict a statement such as yours without more information.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Things were always tougher in the "old days". Just like the E-mails chains that people send out with how great things were in the you pick 40's,50's or 60's. Things in the past always seem better/harder etc... whatever the point of conversation is.

The real bottom line is the more divers there are the better it is for everyone. There is more incentive for the gear manufacturers to inovate, Dive charters to take us out, more money etc... for artificial reefs. I guess there are some that want to be elite but, the hobby would not survive if this where the case.

 

[bookboarder]

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=184142

Training report of our Fundies course. If you're really interested I should warn you know, they got cookies ... over on the dark side

Cookies??? Now, I'm interested....