Unacceptable Instructor Behaviors...

[boulderjohn]

Scary stories get people's attention and are rarely forgotten. They always worked for me to answer the "why do I need to know this" question. My Navy dive instructors were masters at using the technique... but they really sucked at the "diving is fun" concept.

Your Navy instructors were working with a different customer base, and they were teaching people to dive for a different purpose. People whose job is (quite literally) to take whatever crap they get and pass the damn course will react a lot differently from someone who is looking forward to visiting a nice reef during a coming vacation. People diving to accomplish demanding work loads or possibly engage in combat require different skills from people wanting to visit such a reef.

 

[Akimbo]

This is so true it is worth quoting again.

I stole it someplace so feel free to use it and call it your own.

 

[Akimbo]

Your Navy instructors were working with a different customer base...

Understood, I was being facetious. Painfully accurate, but facetious.

 

[lowviz]

Following this thread with great interest...

It sounds like half the story is shaping up nicely. Should there not be an aligned "Student's Bill of Rights"? I don't think that it is fair to dump everything on the instructor. (I'm not an instructor and never ever will be.) I know where my mind was when my son and I began our first OW course. We were both flat-footed clueless pilgrims. Possibly it would be beneficial to start with more of a beginner's mindest than 'you are about to experience the underwater world and all its wonders'. It certainly would have been for us.

I'll start just to see if there is any interest in this approach.

Expectations:

You have the right to assume that your instructor is competent. Instructors are different, just like all the teachers that you have been exposed to. Different instructors have different styles toward attaining the same skills. If you are uncomfortable with the teaching style, you have the right to find a new instructor or a new agency. Just be sure to have a talk with your instructor before dumping him/her.

Upon successful completion, you will not be NAUI, PADI, GUE, or any other agency. You will be a diver trained by an instructor who IS one (or more) of the above.

This is a recreational pursuit. Nobody is making you do this and not everyone enjoys being underwater.

Dive instruction should be personally rewarding. Some people call this fun, but some parts of dive instruction just aren't all that much fun, more of a challenge. Overcoming the challenge and seeing your own progress is personally rewarding. Being a competent diver is great fun.

-thoughts?

 

[MargaritaMike]

About 30 years ago, while I was working overseas, my wife at the time wanted to surprise me and learn to dive. She was/is an extremely attractive woman with bumps and curves in all the right places. Later, when I mentioned that she should look into diving so we could dive together is when I found out about it and that she quit. Upon my digging a little I found out the instructor kept adjusting her BCD as a excuse to grope her. She wouldn't tell me where it happened or who the instructor was for fear I would punch them out. She was probably correct.

When I first came aboard SB I was almost run off because I proposed some sort of instructor review to aid instructors maintain a high level of competency. I soon realized that instructors don't want someone "judging" them and agencies don't care as long as the instructors keep selling C-cards. It's interesting how pilots have to undergo annual review, policemen have to qualify annually, likewise with other professions which could involve saving a life. I'll probably get run off again for saying this, but I think it kind of fits this. Let's see how long it takes before a mod deletes it.

Cheers -

 

[Adam Grose]

I stole it someplace so feel free to use it and call it your own.

Speaking of unacceptable instructor behavior.

 

[Wookie]

It's interesting how pilots have to undergo annual review, policemen have to qualify annually, likewise with other professions which could involve saving a life. I'll probably get run off again for saying this, but I think it kind of fits this. Let's see how long it takes before a mod deletes it.

Cheers -

Uhhh. I have always advocated for this, and I don't know a mod who wouldn't.

 

[Wookie]

Uhhh. I have always advocated for this, and I don't know a mod who wouldn't.

Or an insurance company.

 

[The Chairman]

I don't think that it is fair to dump everything on the instructor.

Nope, I don't think I did that in the OP and even pointed out that the student is very important to the learning process.

I don't think that it is fair to dump everything on the instructor.

Most student failures are indeed instructor failures. This woman was traumatized to a degree I have never seen. She was actually shaking in the pool. It took me 15 minutes to garner enough trust to even start and slowly we worked through her issues to the point where she was not only able to have her mask on full of water, but was able to clear it successfully in a little more than one breath. After the traumatization, her biggest problem was her mask being on so incredibly tight. She had to generate sooooo much pressure to overcome that and they taught her to pull her mask away from her face. So, we loosened the mask to where it would not leak underwater and walla, she was able to clear without even touching it. She did this several times, all off of Scuba.

People take classes to learn how to accomplish a task. If you can't help them work through the barriers stopping them from completing those tasks, then you've failed. Blaming the student doesn't change that fact.

I soon realized that instructors don't want someone "judging" them

No. No, they certainly don't.

 

[Olariuas]

How many of you do a swim test in swimming pool before to do anything ?