There in lies the problem with SCUBA instruction. Proper weighting should be the very first "skill" taught a new diver. It is also why, when you see new divers or divers in training, they have the trim of a moderately experienced seahorse.
Just planting the students to the bottom of the pool just shows how lazy or incompetent most instructors are.
There are two things. There is laziness. There is ignorance. There is apathy.
When I started teaching, I was one of those incompetent instructors who overweighted students, placed them on their knees, and for the life of me I could not figure out why they were corking to the surface and cratering to the bottom. There was never an emphasis on weighting. "This is how things are done." Who was I to challenge people who had been teaching since 1987?
Thank God for social media and scubaboard, as that is where my cranial-rectal inversion condition started to be addressed.
I'd say the biggest problem is lazy CDs/ITs, who should know better. It had been four years since
@boulderjohn,
@Peter Guy, and others published this article in PADI's training journal. Four. Years.
http://utahscubadiver.com/wp-content/uploads/USJ2Q11.pdf. I blame my CD for not teaching us about this, not teaching us HOW TO TEACH instead of just getting us to pass the IE. This makes me want to bite a hole in my lower lip as I type this because
@Peter Guy taught at a nearby shop! How could my CD not be aware or dismiss new and improved ways of teaching? They won't even try new ideas. I shake my head at that.
I feel a bit of guilt for how I taught my early students. Most don't dive. As my CRI condition was treated, most of my students continue to dive. In cold water. I offer my early students free remedial training and then some to compensate for this. I should never have placed them on their knees, but I was the president of the Dunning-Kruger club at the time.
There is the problem of lack of awareness. Once that is addressed, there is the problem of apathy. Apathy is due to things like aspiring to mediocrity, but also incredibly poor compensation from dive shops who offer race to the bottom course prices. My compensation when I taught at shops was always less than minimum wage. But because I have plans to open a dive center, I paid my dues to learn. I was lucky to have
@Peter Guy help me in an early class. That was huge. I use a lot of what he taught me today. I have had virtual mentors that I have met here on ScubaBoard and on FB. I am extremely grateful to Peter and the others who have helped me.
I hope my CRI has been cured.