Those who are not instructors simply see diver training as preparing people for the most likely events. That is a large part of training for sure. But, training also incorporates elements that are designed to build comfort and confidence under stress. Part of this comfort and confidence is being able to perform all skills in various states of failure including failed posts, irritating leaks, no masks, flooded masks, blacked-out masks, and in the dark. A student can be fine without a mask, but very uncomfortable when the mask is flooded or a student is in a blacked out mask. To be able to manage one's primary gas supply and all stage and deco bottles all the way home is both a confidence builder and a lot of fun.
Good training is a balance of demonstration, mimicry, skill development, by the book procedures, developing the ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome by thinking outside the box of procedures, dealing with single, double and multiple failures, the application of varying degrees of stress, and experience dives. This balance can be much harder work for the instructor to create than it is for students to perform.
If you sacrificed everything that is thought to be "unnecessary" in a class for the sake of working hard on a procedure such as a gas switch, it doesn't mean that a diver will follow that procedure 100% of the time. It can be the one and only time in thousands of dives that a diver ignored a well-practiced and often conducted procedure that would lead to a tragedy.
In class, procedures and understanding the purpose behind the procedures is often best tested by applied stress. You'd be amazed at what students will forget under the smallest amount of stress or when dealing with even the most basic of failures. Once procedures are learned well and performed well under normal conditions and under stress, an instructor hopes the student will leave class and dive safely. If the student managed to perform basic procedures correctly under high stress, an instructor hopes that if the student meets a more likely problem during a critical portion of a real dive that student will be less likely to be adversely affected mentally and will cope with the problem or nuisance without forgetting something important that could mean the difference between life or death. This is why some agency standards want the student to do everything with water on the face as well as in the dark. This includes stage drops and pick ups. It will not ensure that a diver will follow procedures any better, but is designed to teach the student to follow procedures as best as he can even in the worst situations and in high stress situations.
It is up to the diver to follow the procedures or to modify the procedures to achieve their purposes when under stress or when in unusual situations throughout his diving career.
Good training is a balance of demonstration, mimicry, skill development, by the book procedures, developing the ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome by thinking outside the box of procedures, dealing with single, double and multiple failures, the application of varying degrees of stress, and experience dives. This balance can be much harder work for the instructor to create than it is for students to perform.
If you sacrificed everything that is thought to be "unnecessary" in a class for the sake of working hard on a procedure such as a gas switch, it doesn't mean that a diver will follow that procedure 100% of the time. It can be the one and only time in thousands of dives that a diver ignored a well-practiced and often conducted procedure that would lead to a tragedy.
In class, procedures and understanding the purpose behind the procedures is often best tested by applied stress. You'd be amazed at what students will forget under the smallest amount of stress or when dealing with even the most basic of failures. Once procedures are learned well and performed well under normal conditions and under stress, an instructor hopes the student will leave class and dive safely. If the student managed to perform basic procedures correctly under high stress, an instructor hopes that if the student meets a more likely problem during a critical portion of a real dive that student will be less likely to be adversely affected mentally and will cope with the problem or nuisance without forgetting something important that could mean the difference between life or death. This is why some agency standards want the student to do everything with water on the face as well as in the dark. This includes stage drops and pick ups. It will not ensure that a diver will follow procedures any better, but is designed to teach the student to follow procedures as best as he can even in the worst situations and in high stress situations.
It is up to the diver to follow the procedures or to modify the procedures to achieve their purposes when under stress or when in unusual situations throughout his diving career.
