A fairly broad brush for a fairly broad problem. Now, that said you seem to have been inserting your pet peeves in between my lines of text. At no time did I point at any agency, but at the OW courses as a whole and the AOW courses on an average. If you are doing differently, then great, you are one of the few. I applaud you, like I do the others that are really trying. My comment just goes to highlight how rare a commodity a good instructor really is.
NWGratefulDiver:
I'm curious Pat ... are you an instructor? If so, how do you teach your OW class. If not, how would you propose it be taught "properly"? Please be specific, given that people are generally only willing to pay (at the top end) about $350 for a well-taught OW class.
Nope, I've pretty much refused to date to get my instructor's ticket, though I used to DM and AI for a good friend of mine (another one of the few consciencous recreational dive instructors). I can't imagine being happy teaching with the limitations you've righly identified above. How do you fix it... start by asking people to pay for quality. I'm not saying they actually will ;-), but why did the industry change to give them the choice. When I did my OW it lasted 12 weeks and cost in 1984$ the same ($350) as what people are willing to pay today in 2004$. People are getting what they are prepared to pay for,... unfortunately.
Skills that are taught in DIR-F require some bottom time ... especially if you're going to start with someone who's brand new to diving.
Assuming the limitations you have listed above (cheap students) you can't fix it entirely. But you can get them started. Teaching from day 1 issues like: no hand swimming, proper trim and buoyancy, better finning techniques, low impact diving, etc. The so called "soft skills" of diving. Will they perfect it... nope... but if you get them on the right path and then bring them back 30 dives later for a demanding AOW you'll have a bunch of divers that you can probably be proud of.
Tell ya what Pat ... if you're ever... you might be surprised by what you learn... if not about diving, then certainly about misconceptions regarding what non-GUE instructors can teach. I guarantee you it isn't based on the principles of "baby-sitting".
I'm not sure where you see me say non-GUE instructors can't teach... I know some absolutely phenomenal dive instructors that aren't GUE. What you may be inferring is that
most dive instructors don't teach much... or well. Unfortunatly this is true. Of course they are a function of the industry that spawned them so it isn't really their fault. The goods ones are, unfortunately, trying to make the best of a misguided industry.
Remarks like the above are really a pet peeve of mine ... believe it or not, they come across as so condescending that they make it more difficult for me to sell my students on the value of the DIR program.
I suppose I could stick my head in the sand and not make any negative observations about the dive industry but that, quite frankly, would be irresponsible. To put my comment into context... without any alternative in the industry, even if someone wasn't going to dive "DIR" they would benefit from the DIRF just to learn how to dive "WELL". That quite frankly should not be true if all was healthy in our industry. (Qualifier: They might learn to dive well from a mentor or special instructor, but that won't be the norm, nor is it demanded by most dive course curriculum.)
I'm not typically accused of being condescending or belligerent. Quite frankly, I think you've probably been abused before by some over-zealous DIR advocate and you have become over sensitive of any negative views on the dive industry in general. Now, on the other hand, if you actually think all is well with the dive training agencies...
