But isn't that the whole central idea of "old school" dive instruction? Do today's instructors just play to the profitable center of the bell curve...
An interesting question. And, it goes to the heart of the challenges of an individual working to overcome deep-seated characteristics of their behavior and personality, as well as the current environment in which most dive training takes place.
As several posters have stated, making fundamental changes in our behavior, in our reactions to stress, in our ability to handle problems with performance, etc., takes time. It does not occur overnight, or in a day, a week, a month, even a year in many cases. If the training environment is structured in a way that IS NOT time-delimited, it is more likely that an individual will be positioned for ultimate success. In today's commercial environment, however, most training IS time-delimited. I don't know if that is a reflection of an instructor, alone, actively choosing to play 'to the profitable center of the bell curve', as it is the shop/operation, AND the trainee, AND the instructor all choosing to play to the efficient center of the time curve. A schedule for a course is set, in advance, based on what the both the shop / operation wants - a one-weekend AOW course for example - AND a student wants. Many of us actively choose to structure our lives that way - we choose to allocate 'this weekend' to completing Advanced Open Water Diver training, or to allocate this month to completing PADI Tec 45 training, whatever. I understand why that happens, although I also understand that not everyone learns in the same way, or at the same pace. Technical dive training is not something that is amenable to fixed time constraints for many. If a diver chooses to travel to, for instance, a dive training operation in a warm Caribbean environment, and take a technical dive training course for a fixed price, to be completed in a fixed time, both the student and the operation now have an investment in timely completion. The student may only have 'X' amount of time to allocate to the training, and 'X' amount of money to cover the costs of housing. The shop may have set the price based on 'X' amount of instructor time, and 'X' number of boat charters which are anticipated to be needed. I don't know if that is as much playing to the profitable center of a curve, as it is what would be considered to be - in today's business environment - appropriate planning. But, whatever it is, that situation may well be a set-up for failure for THAT student, particularly if there are fundamental
behavioral - not just mechanical - changes that will need to be made in order for the student to succeed.
Couple that with how the trainee handles frustration and stress - which may be one of those fundamental behavioral changes that needs to be made - and the likelihood of success is further degraded. A student who vents their (understandable) frustration with their own performance in an outwardly emotional manner, which may be viewed as abusive by others around that student, is going to have trouble succeeding. Each of us is responsible for our own behavior. If it is dysfunctional in certain environments, we have to either change our environment, or change our behavior, and THAT change may take time.
When I was participating in technical dive training, I 'quit' several times. I was frustrated with MY OWN performance. After one dive, in particular, where nothing seemed to go right - because of me, not because of the course or the instructor - I exited the water with the two instructors and the other trainee, and as they were chatting about the dive, I remained quiet but went about getting out of my gear, and packing up my stuff. Then I simply - but abruptly - said, 'I quit. You all go on without me.' No other explanation, I just took my marbles and went home. Had it been a course when I was expected to complete the requirements of that dive, on that weekend, or where the instructors were put off by my absurdly childish behavior, I wouldn't have ever finished. Fortunately, both instructors were friends. I had the ability to go home, think about what the real cause of my frustration was, accept the fact that MY behavior was inappropriate, and I called the primary instructor, apologized, and scheduled time to redo the dive. That happened 15 years ago. Had it happened 15 years before that, I might have not just said, "I quit.' and left, I might have had a full-blown, profanity-laced, emotional eruption. Even today, I have to recognize the warning signs of growing frustration - with myself, primarily - and work to control my reaction. It is easier, but I am not 'cured'. Nonetheless, it is entirely MY responsibility to correct the problem, and not anyone else's.
The value of this thread extends far beyond the individual who started it. I do not know the OP personally, only as a SB user. I have no particular investment in the individual outcome, I don't need to communicate with the dive operation to get more information, etc. Rather, the discussion is both a necessary reminder, and a challenge, to me, to continue to grow and develop and work to change. I hope that it serves that purpose for many users.
