Info Why are tables not taught in OW classes anymore?

[Divedoggie]

We teach them for all Open Water Classes. Always have, always will.

 

[L13]

Gang, (This includes ALL that are responding and posting, even YOU!!)

This is the "Basic" forum!! Also, AFAIK, calling others "trolls" is against T&C of SB. Calling others "trolls" appears to be a technique to silence people with different line of thinking and who challenge the line of thought dominating SB.

You are right. I apologize for using the term "troll", I will try and be better.

This is happening frequently. I don't care about who is right or who is wrong and I don't necessarily share either side's point of view, but there is more bickering and name calling here than there is real information exchange.

Please listen, read, understand, comprehend, think and pause for few minutes BEFORE you let your fingers do the typing...

Love, hugs and kisses to you all...

BoltSnap, the peace maker!

Thanks!

 

[Micko1974]

Tables aren't hard, even the Nitrox ones, really. If I can do it....But of course they are pretty much impossible to use unless you use them regularly, and if not, review them now and then. They are still quite practical for me as almost all my dives are square profiles. Things have evolved though, as Tursiops points out. On a Band directors' forum recently someone said some of their kids can't read an analog clock.

Ha, I love the fact that kids can't read an analog clock. We have had similar instances where we are trying to teach simple decompression theory, or pressure/theory and it's like we are speaking a foreign language. This is also evident in some certifying agencies' open water materials. They have been 'dumbed down', so people can understand. Scary really.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Ha, I love the fact that kids can't read an analog clock. We have had similar instances where we are trying to teach simple decompression theory, or pressure/theory and it's like we are speaking a foreign language. This is also evident in some certifying agencies' open water materials. They have been 'dumbed down', so people can understand. Scary really.

Some kids can’t read clocks because they don’t have to.
In the sign business people don’t have to know how to draw out and form letters by hand anymore because a computer does it for them with a lot more precision and they don’t have to.
People working in retail don’t need to know how to count back change because they don’t have to, the register tells them how much change to give back.
Most people don’t know how to drive a stick shift vehicle because automatics are great now so they don’t have to.
How many people still write out a letter in cursive and mail it off in an envelope with a stamp as opposed to just shooting off an email?
Why don’t people still use tables? Because computers are way better at calculating nitrogen uptake during every second of the dive and we don’t have to worry about it.
That’s just how it is.

 

[Belzelbub]

Why don’t people still use tables? Because computers are way better at calculating nitrogen uptake during every second of the dive and we don’t have to worry about it.

Exactly. I learned using tables, but haven’t really used one in ages. I’ve consulted one for an NDL number in the past few years, but haven’t really used one for diving in well over a decade. As long as you know how to use the tools at your disposal, then there is no problem. Tables were always a topside for most. Having a computer with you on the dive is much better.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Some kids can’t read clocks because they don’t have to.
In the sign business people don’t have to know how to draw out and form letters by hand anymore because a computer does it for them with a lot more precision and they don’t have to.
People working in retail don’t need to know how to count back change because they don’t have to, the register tells them how much change to give back.

When I asked the person at the deli counter for 3/4 of a pound of something, they gave me a blank stare. They know what one pound looks like on the scale. The know what one-half pound looks like. But they don't seem to really understand the scale enough to do more than that.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

When I asked the person at the deli counter for 3/4 of a pound of something, they gave me a blank stare. They know what one pound looks like on the scale. The know what one-half pound looks like. But they don't seem to really understand the scale enough to do more than that.

What you do is tell them you want .75 of something.
Or better yet, if you have good skills at estimating what .75 of your deli meat looks like, ask them every few seconds “how much is that now” as they are putting it on the scale. Stop them when they are close enough. Why don’t they know how to do that? Because they don’t have to.

Just yesterday I was at my favorite local dive spot up on the coast. There’s a beautiful redwood forest path that goes from the campground day use parking lot down to the beach/cove. It’s like the land of the lost with towering redwoods, ferns, and a beautiful creek with trickling water and small babbling brooks. It’s so peaceful and still.
I’m walking down enjoying the hike when suddenly a voice from behind me shouts “ON THE LEFT!”.. Startled, I’m suddenly jolted from my zen of feeling the light filter through the trees, the peacefulness of the forest, the beauty of the giant ferns. Here come two 11 yo boys on those hover boards with one big tire and electrically powered. They wizzed past me. I thought ‘what the h… doesn’t anybody walk anymore?’
They don’t walk anymore because they don’t have to, not even on a walking trail where no motorized anything is allowed.

 

[BlueTrin]

When I asked the person at the deli counter for 3/4 of a pound of something, they gave me a blank stare. They know what one pound looks like on the scale. The know what one-half pound looks like. But they don't seem to really understand the scale enough to do more than that.

The solution is to write 3/4 on the scale next to 0.75

 

[Lorenzoid]

What you do is tell them you want .75 of something.
Or better yet, if you have good skills at estimating what .75 of your deli meat looks like, ask them every few seconds “how much is that now” as they are putting it on the scale. Stop them when they are close enough. Why don’t they know how to do that? Because they don’t have to.

I doubt they really have a grasp of decimal numbers, either. My guess is they are taught by rote memorization that "1.0" is what to look for on the scale's display when a customer says "one pound" and "0.5" when a customer says "half a pound," and that's about all they can handle memorizing.

I see tables dying a premature death. So long as there are some divers who still use tables, I believe new divers should be taught tables, if only a brief introduction. THEY may not have to use tables, but they should at least understand what that weirdo with the table is doing. And no, I can't remember the last time I saw someone using a table in the field, at least not on a recreational dive.

As for the deli counter problem, it would be alleviated if we used grams.

 

[USdiver1]

I’m walking down enjoying the hike when suddenly a voice from behind me shouts “ON THE LEFT!”.. Startled, I’m suddenly jolted from my zen of feeling the light filter through the trees, the peacefulness of the forest, the beauty of the giant ferns. Here come two 11 yo boys on those hover boards with one big tire and electrically powered. They wizzed past me. I thought ‘what the h… doesn’t anybody walk anymore?’
They don’t walk anymore because they don’t have to, not even on a walking trail where no motorized anything is allowed.

"In the year 5555,
Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin' to do
Some machine's doin' that for you."

From In the Year 2525 - Zager and Evans
No. 1 on the charts about the time Apollo 11 landed on the Moon.