History of Diver Training

[Kingpatzer]

I don't have an issue with the current training, just that what you get should not be an OW card, it should be a training card, that allows you to go to the next level, or allows you to go on those guided tours.

Frankly, it's all about elitism.

No one NEEDS a certification to dive. No one. Buy the gear on the internet, find a shop that'll fill your tanks, and go dive. That's it.

So a card can say whatever it wants and it means jack all. A PADI OW card means that a person passed a PADI OW course. A full cave cert means that a person passed a full cave course.

And that PADI OW diver might never take another course in their life, dive every other day with highly skilled friends, and become one of the most talented divers in the world, or they might do one dive trip and never dive again. The full cave diver might decide they've spent enough time and money on the sport and give up diving for decades, only to return to it in their autumn years to find they can't maintain their trim or buoyancy for love or money.

A card means nothing more than the person took a course.

And an agency means nothing more than that the instructor happens to teach for that agency.

Once an agency gets large enough that each instructor doesn't know most of the other instructors variance in training methods will start to expand pretty quickly. And at that point, even the course standards don't mean much.

Instruction is better today not because of what standards exist for a course with a particular title, or because of the standards of one agency or another. Instruction is better today because the sheer number, diversity and depth of experience divers have, the sheer volume of high quality educational materials, and the ease of finding and developing relationships with those high quality diving mentors and obtaining and using those materials.

Focusing on courses presumes that the majority of diving education has something to do with courses. It doesn't.

I'm not sure it ever really did. How many of the historic "heroes" of diving just did stuff without benefit of a course? From trying out the first aqualung to exploring the first caves and on and on the pioneers became well educated about diving without attending a class. They learned by diving and interacting with other divers.

And that is how divers get trained today.

Want proof that it's not the course? Go find someone who graduated college 5 or 6 years ago but who works in a field unrelated to the one they majored in. Ask them detailed questions that a major in that field should know. The average person won't be able to provide particularly detailed or deep answers.

Now ask that same person detailed questions about the field in which they work and you'll get detailed, specific answers.

Instructors like to think the course is the focus of diving education, but it's not. It's merely one possible entry point into the sport. But anyone who has been diving even semi-regularly for more than a few years will have learned far more outside of the classroom than in it -- either through personal experience or through the tutelage of a mentor.

Today it's trivial to find people who have been diving for 40 years even in places like Iowa. How common was that 40 years ago?

 

[Kingpatzer]

He thinks it's elitist to not want to, "pave paradise and put up a parking lot."

No, it's elitist to think you should have access to paradise but someone else should not because they annoy you by flailing around more than you believe they should be.

The comment I responded to was, as I read it, speaking of training, not of environmental concerns.

 

[Thalassamania]

Frankly, it's all about elitism.

Given a choice between, "why not the best?" and "why not the worst?" I will invariable choose the former ... if that makes me an "elitist" ... so be it.

No one NEEDS a certification to dive. No one. Buy the gear on the internet, find a shop that'll fill your tanks, and go dive. That's it.

So a card can say whatever it wants and it means jack all. A PADI OW card means that a person passed a PADI OW course. A full cave cert means that a person passed a full cave course.

And that PADI OW diver might never take another course in their life, dive every other day with highly skilled friends, and become one of the most talented divers in the world, or they might do one dive trip and never dive again. The full cave diver might decide they've spent enough time and money on the sport and give up diving for decades, only to return to it in their autumn years to find they can't maintain their trim or buoyancy for love or money.

A card means nothing more than the person took a course.

Actually it also serves in a number of gatekeeper capacities.

And an agency means nothing more than that the instructor happens to teach for that agency.

I don't know about you but I have never taught for an agency ... I teach for my students.

Once an agency gets large enough that each instructor doesn't know most of the other instructors variance in training methods will start to expand pretty quickly. And at that point, even the course standards don't mean much.

If they are minimum standards they mean quite a bit.

Instruction is better today not because of what standards exist for a course with a particular title, or because of the standards of one agency or another. Instruction is better today because the sheer number, diversity and depth of experience divers have, the sheer volume of high quality educational materials, and the ease of finding and developing relationships with those high quality diving mentors and obtaining and using those materials.

Really? I find less highly experienced divers (and thus many fewer high quality diving mentors) around today then I did years ago. Few, if any, of the coloring books that pass for basic or advanced or specialty diving texts can hold a candle to the Science of Skin and Scuba, or the New Science of Skin and Scuba, or the Navy Manual or the Univ. of Michigan Research Divers Manual or any of several other books of days gone by.

Focusing on courses presumes that the majority of diving education has something to do with courses. It doesn't.

I'm not sure it ever really did. How many of the historic "heroes" of diving just did stuff without benefit of a course? From trying out the first aqualung to exploring the first caves and on and on the pioneers became well educated about diving without attending a class. They learned by diving and interacting with other divers.

And that is how divers get trained today.

I don't know what world you live in, but one of the major complaints that I hear is from new to intermediate divers who can't seem to find a way to do that without a course and a card. That's what they've been taught to expect and that's what they want.

Want proof that it's not the course? Go find someone who graduated college 5 or 6 years ago but who works in a field unrelated to the one they majored in. Ask them detailed questions that a major in that field should know. The average person won't be able to provide particularly detailed or deep answers.

Now ask that same person detailed questions about the field in which they work and you'll get detailed, specific answers.

Can't tell you about the average person ... I'm an elitist ... and I remember most of what I learned while at university, even stuff that's not in my field that I haven't used in decades. Perhaps I'm special, but I don't think so ... I do know that my education was special, however.

Instructors like to think the course is the focus of diving education, but it's not. It's merely one possible entry point into the sport. But anyone who has been diving even semi-regularly for more than a few years will have learned far more outside of the classroom than in it -- either through personal experience or through the tutelage of a mentor.

All that means is that they learned very little in their class. I suspect you are correct there.

Today it's trivial to find people who have been diving for 40 years even in places like Iowa. How common was that 40 years ago?

It's not a matter of how many years since your first dive, its a combination of how many years since your first dive, how many dives total, and how many different sorts of experiences.

 

[Kingpatzer]

It's not a matter of how many years since your first dive, its a combination of how many years since your first dive, how many dives total, and how many different sorts of experiences.

True, but I'm talking about active divers. I don't live in scuba diving central, but I know, and dive regularly with, a handful of people who have been diving for 20 or more years quite regularly, with a combination of military, commercial and recreational backgrounds. 40 years ago, where I currently reside, there was one scuba store. It happens to be the store I associate with. The instructor/owner had a bit more than 10 years of experience then. Now there are dozens of people with that level of experience or more. And we also have folks such as those I'm lucky enough to dive with, who have a far greater level of knowledge and depth of experience.

 

[Sas]

What actually is the problem with elitism? Some people are better than others. Some people are more elite. What is wrong with saying that? Why should one have to pretend to be mediocre when they are not just so the mediocre people feel ok? Why should people have to want what the majority is happy with? Instead they get criticised for expecting and wanting more... I don't get it.

 

[Kingpatzer]

Given a choice between, "why not the best?" and "why not the worst?" I will invariable choose the former ... if that makes me an "elitist" ... so be it.

I like to make scrambled eggs. I never thought I was somehow shorting myself by not going to the Culinary Institute of America.

 

[Sas]

I like to make scrambled eggs. I never thought I was somehow shorting myself by not going to the Culinary Institute of America.

Some people would...

 

[Thalassamania]

I like to make scrambled eggs. I never thought I was somehow shorting myself by not going to the Culinary Institute of America.

Some people would...

From the CIA menu:

Breakfast Burrito: Three scrambled eggs with Mozzarella cheese wrapped in a whole wheat flour tortilla. Grilled to your choice of chorizo, bacon or ham.

You might be shorting yourself.

 

[Slamfire]

That's kind of my point though. As things progress, certain skill sets are lost along the way. If we wanted to go on a hike through the woods, we had to damn near cut a trail with a machete. Now there is a paved path, with park benches and "scenic outlooks."

There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but the problem comes in when someone who has done 50 of these "excursions" now thinks that they're ready to hike through the Amazon rainforest.

Making things more accessible to the masses widens the disparity when there are presented with real challenges.

I do permanently carry a very sharp machete in my car. It is not a weapon, it is a most useful tool for cutting a trail when I go "hiking". I do use it, just as I do use my 4X4 vehicle to the full extent of its capability. When I go camping, it usually involves paddling in the canoe (hand made with my own hands) for more than 10 km to a remote site where I usually have to do some ground clearing with the machete prepare a place to pitch the tent. Does this make me elitist or macho? Don't much care whether it does or not. This is the way I like to do things. I still respect and will not look down on people that "camp" in resort like conditions. But the fact is that, IMHO, such camping experience is very devalued. If people are content and happy doing their resort like "camping" good for them, just don't ask me to believe that their way is a better way.

Likewise with diving. If anybody is happy with the way the current OW diver gets his instruction, good for you. Just don't try to sell me the idea that this is a better way. I am the third generation of scuba divers in my family. I am in the unique situation of having been trained by my father in the 80's through 60's methodologies. I was also PADI OW certified in 2008, after moving into Canada and having no scuba social circle over here. I wrote about my experiences with formal agency training here.

"Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty... I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well."
-- Theodore Roosevelt

This last picture has my dad in the background when I took him on his first camping trip in Canada. You can also see the tip of the canoe in the background. Great fishing spot -- about 30 fish in the last 3 hours of daylight. A small mink socialized with my dad after it stole several of his fish. It was a great trip.

 

[Thalassamania]

"Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty... I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well."
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Bully!