History of Diver Training

[DCBC]

Obviously a full time class such as what is given to military divers and scientists can do the above, I am restricting my thoughts to recreational SCUBA only here.

I was as well. I'm not suggesting that the diver has to be 'completely trained,' as we all continue to learn. I do however think that they should be taught and examined to ensure that they possess the knowledge and skill-sets that they need to dive independently as a valuable member of the buddy team. One of these is some rescue skills (for example) which are omitted by some training agencies.

 

[Slamfire]

I could not disagree more. We as a species have taken natural selection out of the equation. I can not say I feel this is entirely a bad thing either, but there are certain drawbacks to it.

Ok, I can see how you could say that if natural selection were still in place for humans we wouldn't have diabetics because they would not live long enough to reproduce... But even then I could argue that mankind, for the longest time, has used brains to overcome physical shortcomings. We do not have the largest teeth or the strongest jaw muscles, but we have the capability to sharpen sticks and use them as spears. We are still here and the saber tooth tiger is not . But we are drifting away from the topic. So let me try to clarify: Certified divers will have to face real world conditions irrespective of the quality of their training. Real world conditions will be equally applied. Some will fall in the course of their engagement with the real world. Better skilled divers will do better. Poorly trained divers will not.

My point is that in the time the student learns something that was omitted from the training program, they could get hurt. If the instructor didn't withhold pertinent information and skill-sets, it could have been prevented.

I liken some OW training programs to driving instruction; here's your driver's license, if you like, come back on the advanced and we'll introduce you to stop signs.... What happens if they don't come back? You have a bunch of licensed drivers, driving around not knowing what a stop sign is. Yes, they may figure it out for themselves, but why wasn't the first program more inclusive??? ...Well actually we figured out we could make more money by dividing up the program into modules.

Valid point. Luck and timing can conspire against even the best specimens. That said, "luck does tend to favor those who are well prepared".

 

[Walter]

When you take a first aid course or CPR is it laden with doom and gloom and someone harping at you like a drill sergeant?

No, but that's never happened in any dive class I've ever seen either.

 

[seaducer]

I was as well. I'm not suggesting that the diver has to be 'completely trained,' as we all continue to learn. I do however think that they should be taught and examined to ensure that they possess the knowledge and skill-sets that they need to dive independently as a valuable member of the buddy team. One of these is some rescue skills (for example) which are omitted by some training agencies.

emphasis mine

I understand where you are coming from, but I am some what torn on one issue, and a little cynical on another.

I tend to pick things up very quickly, especially when I am interested, and especially physical skills. I am [-]not sure[/-] sure that I was not a valuable member of any buddy team when I first became certified, and I am not willing to blame my instructor or agency for that. I do feel that new divers first instinct when something bad happens is to surface, and it takes bottom time to get over that. In addition in order to bouyancy skills to become second nature enough to be able to effect a rescue, you also need time in the water. More time than OW classes can afford to give. At least that is my opinion based on my own experience. I was certified in the spring and by the end of summer after diving every weekend I was starting to emulate the more experienced divers without thinking about it. At that point I could begin to be counted on if something happened.

Before that, I needed a mentor more than they needed me. It is an alien experience where all my instincts were wrong at first, and things like bouyancy had to be thought about. Task loading in an emergency...I would have worked through it I think, but it would have been ugly.

 

[Thalassamania]

Fair enough, what I was thinking when I wrote the above post was skills such as bouyancy control, need to be practiced in order to become/remain proficient. For example someone good enough to pass DIR/F, but doesn't dive again for 2 years will no longer reflect what they learned or had to demonstrate in order to pass.

Intensive diving seasons alternating with long layoffs is a general problem for many all diving scientists who do not adopt diving as a hobby. We specifically teach ways for our people to use the exercises that they learned to "refresh" themselves prior to starting a new field season.

Knowledge wise, there is simply no way I could have absorbed all that I currently know about diving (which more and more looks like a list of what I still need to learn) in any practicle OW class. There is just a limit, and an active diver continues to learn more and more as their diving progresses.

Obviously a full time class such as what is given to military divers and scientists can do the above, I am restricting my thoughts to recreational SCUBA only here.

In this area I don't think that there is a whole lot of difference, at least between scientific and recreational, both suffer from the layoff problem both need to refresh, we teach specifically how to do it well, the recreational world would have you make a "refresher" diver with an instructor who really is not there for anything more than babysitting you through a dive. It need not be that way.

 

[DCBC]

This post is such unadulterated bullsht. I don't know what makes people think that training for problems and/or emergencies has to be heavy and difficult but it's such a crock.

When you take a first aid course or CPR is it laden with doom and gloom and someone harping at you like a drill sergeant?

No.

Sheesh. Training can be effective AND fun. Some of the old timers just evidently lost the ability to have fun and think because they have forgotten how to "play" that the world should be devoid of it.

You're right Rob, "this post is such unadulterated bullsht." First-aid courses are designed to introduce people to basic skills. If you were a Paramedic, you would be subjected to much more pressure and realism.

A diver is more similar to a Paramedic than someone who is introduced to first-aid. The diver does not sit on the sidelines. He's subjected to a harsh environment and survives through his life-support equipment, his training and experience.

You might choose to teach people to have fun, that's up to you. I teach people how to dive. We each have a different way of going about it, which we should each respect. There's no place for innuendo in such a discussion.

 

[Diver0001]

You might choose to teach people to have fun, that's up to you. I teach people how to dive.

I teach them to do both. Maybe I should charge them more...

We each have a different way of going about it, which we should each respect. There's no place for innuendo in such a discussion.

I'm not the one saying between the lines that if training is fun that it's worthless...

R..

 

[seaducer]

Certified divers will have to face real world conditions irrespective of the quality of their training. Real world conditions will be equally applied. Some will fall in the course of their engagement with the real world. Better skilled divers will do better. Poorly trained divers will not.

I tend to agree, but I am not sure the evidence points directly to the agency or to the individual. I would have to look at the stats, and I am sure someone will post them (especially if I am wrong:mooner but I do not think the majority of accidents are happening to freshly carded divers. I am not sure where a resonable place to draw the blame line is when you start getting 1 or more years removed from your class.

Like I said before, someone could demonstrate all the knoweldge and skill to pass DIR/F, but then not dive for a while, or choose to ignore some of the principles learned there, and that doesn't mean that the class was bogus or the instructor lazy.

Where you can lay blame directly at the feet of the mainstream agencies is that they make diving accessible for large amounts of people, and whenever the number of people go up, so to does the number of morons, just based on percentage...

 

[Thalassamania]

No one is saying, "that if training is fun that it's worthless..." We just all know a lot of things that are fun but that are educationally rather useless. Fun should be an element, can be an element, but should never be the prime criterion.

 

[DCBC]

I'm not the one saying between the lines that if training is fun that it's worthless...

I didn't say worthless. If the focus is on having fun, it's not on training.

Few would say that a training program that builds skills to the point of adding stress by dealing with malfunctions is fun (until after the exercise is completed). I appreciate that you don't train this way, but don't belittle others who do. Because I don't teach vacationers to dive in 3 days doesn't mean I don't train people to dive.