Is there an instructor crisis?

[Aura]

Ah yes, we're at a full circle and back at "Young people are the cause of all my problems, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!".
You were of course quite different when young. I'm sure you worked 25 hours a day, when riding your bicycle to school it was uphill both ways, through perennial blizzards. You saved the world time and again, and you did all this while, above all else, remaining HUMBLE!

If your attitude towards new people is like this, do you seriously wonder why they don't stick around? If your local diving community is so saturated by bitter hatefulness, perhaps it deserves to die.

 

[berndo]

People these days are so coddled and entitled in comparison, they are taught that they shouldn’t have to do anything that doesn’t mesh with their dreams; they should design their lives so they are always happy and they shouldn’t have do anything that stresses them or causes them any discomfort.
It’s nauseating.

I hear this stuff in media all the time but I don't see it in real life.
Diving, especially when you have to travel, is pretty expensive per dive. In a lot of other sports and activities are much cheaper. Even if you'd buy a mountain bike for 8 grand (which the vast majority don't) and go to bike parks, you get a lot more fun time out of that money than in Scuba. Skiing and stuff like kite surfing is also much cheaper when look at how many hours you can ski or surf for x amount of money.
And the people I see in 8 grand bikes don't look that young.

 

[Stephen McCallister]

In my experience from going to a DM and IDC course with various age groups and watching the after effects there is no shortage of people becoming instructors.
I saw 14 people become DM's and Instructors with me. After graduation, half never worked in the industry, it was like going to diving camp for the summer, one quarter of them burned out in the first year because of being over worked and under paid, the rest stuck it out for a while and just fizzled out.
Personally I enjoy diving and want to share it with every one. I have been working on a spanish speaking tropical island for 2 years. There are months where it is non stop then it tappers off to not working for 4-6 weeks. I would make about 28K a year with diving being my only source of income. Thats just myself and being single.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Ah yes, we're at a full circle and back at "Young people are the cause of all my problems, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!".
You were of course quite different when young. I'm sure you worked 25 hours a day, when riding your bicycle to school it was uphill both ways, through perennial blizzards. You saved the world time and again, and you did all this while, above all else, remaining HUMBLE!

If your attitude towards new people is like this, do you seriously wonder why they don't stick around? If your local diving community is so saturated by bitter hatefulness, perhaps it deserves to die.

It’s not the kids these days, it’s the parents and popular culture these days. The kid is just a kid like any human was 200 years ago when they were born. They don’t know anything, they’re babies how are they supposed to know what year and what culture it is? Not until they are conditioned and taught how to act and be do they develop into what they are now.
The other thing I notice with them is they can’t handle any criticism. They have a melt down as soon as anybody says what snowflakes they are.
I guess that comes from them constantly being told how perfect and special they are and how they can do no wrong

 

[Jcp2]

It’s not the kids these days, it’s the parents and popular culture these days. The kid is just a kid like any human was 200 years ago when they were born. They don’t know anything, they’re babies how are they supposed to know what year and what culture it is? Not until they are conditioned and taught how to act and be do they develop into what they are now.
The other thing I notice with them is they can’t handle any criticism. They have a melt down as soon as anybody says what snowflakes they are.
I guess that comes from them constantly being told how perfect and special they are and how they can do no wrong

And which generation raised those parents?

 

[happy-diver]

Blurring lines and checking your spine at the door is a societal thing that started in the eighties
when changing a spark plug was removed from the curriculum and tattoos were no longer the
realm only of the sailor and the criminal and the road most commonly taken is the softest one

For no respect of consequence

 

[Aura]

The other thing I notice with them is they can’t handle any criticism. They have a melt down as soon as anybody says what snowflakes they are.
I guess that comes from them constantly being told how perfect and special they are and how they can do no wrong

Or maybe it just seems really out of place that you keep using a forum for scuba diving as a platform for your completely unfounded bashing of people younger than yourself, and your equally unfounded self-praising.
It reminds me of another thread in which you tried to shoot down what I said because I'm not a California diver, and California has harsher diving conditions than anything I've ever experienced. I actually laughed out loud when I read that.

I'll do us both a favor and try to use this "Ignore user" function, because you're clearly unable to not post this kind of nonsense, and I end up wasting my own time and yours when trying to explain why you might be wrong. Good luck with your life, thank god we'll never meet.

 

[berndo]

It’s not the kids these days, it’s the parents and popular culture these days. The kid is just a kid like any human was 200 years ago when they were born. They don’t know anything, they’re babies how are they supposed to know what year and what culture it is? Not until they are conditioned and taught how to act and be do they develop into what they are now.
The other thing I notice with them is they can’t handle any criticism. They have a melt down as soon as anybody says what snowflakes they are.
I guess that comes from them constantly being told how perfect and special they are and how they can do no wrong

You don't think it's a little ridiculous to generalize a generation of people? C'mon, Erik, really?
You know what confirmation bias is?

The fact that wages haven't kept up with cost of living increase for decades is not passing judgment on boomers. I wonder why people have issues admitting the obvious. Must be an ego thing.

 

[MidOH]

How much of the cost of living is self imposed?

We dont need massive houses.

 

[MidOH]

He's got a point though. One blue collar income used to be enough to support a wife, house, kids, and even college for some of those kids.

We didnt have AC, huge houses, video games, cable, or 7 cars and boats, either.