Observed an OW class yesterday
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billt4sf
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Funny -- that's exactly how most secondary school administrators think. Quality of instruction? - Who cares? But can they coach soccer? -- We have a winner!
- Bill
What I said was "In a well designed curriculum, students who have the required prerequisite skills and who put in the required time and effort in the amount of time designed for course completion should complete the course satisfactorily. If there is a high failure rate in a course with properly screened students who are giving the expected effort..."
Pretty much all courses in all subjects screen to make sure students are qualified to begin the course. It is a waste of time to try to teach students who do not have the prerequisite skills needed to begin instruction. For open water classes, students are screened for medical conditions and age. They need to pass a swim test as well, but not much else. Some of that screening is done by the individual--people who don't really want to be scuba divers usually (but not always) avoid signing up.
More advanced classes require more advanced beginning skills on the part of the new diver, and doing that screening can be tricky. It is, however, important to do that screening, and one of those reasons is a matter of ethics. Let's say you charge $1,000 for a 3-day course, and you also charge for followup sessions or retaking the course for students who do not pass. If you accept students into the original course who do not have good enough skills to begin the course, meaning they are likely to fail, then I would argue you are ethically challenged.
I know of a case a number of years ago in which two students paid a technical instructor a lot of money for a full week course in Cozumel. They also paid his transportation, lodging, and food while he was there. At the end of the week they were told they had not passed, and they would have to repeat the entire course. Now, I do believe people should not pass a course just because they paid for it and put in the time, but if you have two highly motivated students working hard for the length of time you said the course should take to complete and they do not pass, then something is wrong with the screening, the design of the course, or the quality of the instruction, and all of those factors come back to the instructor.
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The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Now, that's a big butt, and one I completely agree with. I adapt as I teach, so no two students get precisely the same class. Even when they are taking the class together, I'll usually have to adapt things differently between the two. That means I have to constantly assess my efficacy as well as their ability to comprehend and apply.
Right - that's what I've been saying
Ha! Boy, that's some German... if they ever re-do Hogan's Heroes or such, you definitely should apply.
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The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Yeah, I spoke it more than I wrote it.
Same with my French... not so much with my Russian. I actually studied Russian.
A good place to start would be to raise the bar at the IDC/IE level.
Make it a requirement to have all skills demonstrated while being neutral.
I'm a firm believer that you can't teach it if you can't do it.
PADI pays lip service to having shills taught while neutral, but it isn't required; only encouraged.
You Tube is already littered with its fair share of on-the-knees PADI videos.
Which shows the prevailing image of how they want it to look.
Slow change will occur only because of individual instructors that are bring something better to the table and teaching neutral skills.
The "change" will only be local, and merely a drop in the bucket unfortunately.
There are other threads where the topic is "Why aren't more people becoming interested in diving?"
It is because of image.
My kids, who are teenagers, laugh at the typical "on the knees" videos on You Tube.
You Tube is often where people go for their first glimpse into something they are developing an interest in.
That glimpse of on the knees.......it looks stupid.
Having to demonstrate skills during the IDC was ridiculous. Having to be "evaluated" during the IE that way was too.
And that is exactly how the majority of all instructors are going to teach.
Make it a requirement to have all skills demonstrated while being neutral.
I'm a firm believer that you can't teach it if you can't do it.
PADI pays lip service to having shills taught while neutral, but it isn't required; only encouraged.
You Tube is already littered with its fair share of on-the-knees PADI videos.
Which shows the prevailing image of how they want it to look.
Slow change will occur only because of individual instructors that are bring something better to the table and teaching neutral skills.
The "change" will only be local, and merely a drop in the bucket unfortunately.
There are other threads where the topic is "Why aren't more people becoming interested in diving?"
It is because of image.
My kids, who are teenagers, laugh at the typical "on the knees" videos on You Tube.
You Tube is often where people go for their first glimpse into something they are developing an interest in.
That glimpse of on the knees.......it looks stupid.
Having to demonstrate skills during the IDC was ridiculous. Having to be "evaluated" during the IE that way was too.
And that is exactly how the majority of all instructors are going to teach.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
ScubaBoard is actually a great place to start.
I agree 100% with the first two lines and 90% with the last. My only problem with the last is the "can't do it" part. The skills are easy to do when neutral--the myth that it requires some great deal of watermanship is what is stopping instructors from trying it.
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