JPBECK:
Back to my first point... We would not have to teach a fundamentals class if the BOW Instructors taught them right from the GET-GO!
While I'm not going to disagree that there are bad instructors out there; this issue ultimately comes down to the diver him or herself. The diver in training must
want to learn more than just barely surviving while breathing underwater. Unfortunately, in my opinion the vast majority don't want to learn anything above and beyond that. The popularity of $99 weekend certification classes bears witness to this fact.
I recently went to Bonaire with my wife Linda, her father and stepmom. Linda and her father Dick are divers, but they only dive on warm water vacations (iow, not that often). Linda hadn't been in the water in a little over a year and Dick was coming up on a year. I suggested to both of them that a refresher was in order. Linda absolutely agreed but it took some convincing on our part to get her dad to do the refresher.
On the refresher dive I observed while they went through the basic skills. Linda did fine after some early apprehension (even an S-drill, as I had converted her regs to the long hose and bungied safe second before our trip). Dick struggled with all the skills and bouyancy and was obviously not comfortable. He also had the most difficulty (of anyone, not just in our little group) on the guided boat dives we all did together throughout the week. Quite frankly, he's an accident waiting to happen.
The point of all this rambling is that as I was talking with Linda and her parents in the evenings, Dick thought he was a pretty good diver (!). I tried subtly to point out things he might want to work on, but I just think he sees no need to improve. No amount of good instruction will change that self-view, most likely.
The worst part is that Dick's wife Karen (Linda's step-mom) did the Discover Scuba while we were in Bonaire and really enjoyed it. So guess how she's getting certified... yep, a quickie weekend certification course! I
really argued against this, but they just didn't want to spend the extra cash on a real classroom and pool setting here, then a referral OW dive session in Roatan (or anywhere warm, for that matter).
So, as I said it's ultimately the new divers that are the problem here. No amount of good instructors will change this, as this isn't want the general buying public wants.
Jimmie
P.S. During our trip Linda asked to try on my bp/wing (she hated the BC I had borrowed for her). She really liked my Halcyon and now wants one like it. This made me quite happy!
