Training today is a sad joke if you can't see that you're blind.
Just wondering where I ever said anything about divers dying...I think you said that.....i just shake my head when someone finishes their O/W course and can't dive without a DM holding their hand or don't have a clue on how to assemble their gear.
I am glad i was taught the way I was .
As a diver trained and training in the new era, I don't know that I completely agree with these. I think the learner's have a significant responsibility for the sad state of learning. I completed my AOW and Drysuit courses a few weeks ago and it is a perfect example. Four of us started the course. I am still new to training, only completed my OW in March of this year, but a fast learner, willing to put in the time and effort to learn and eager to learn and get better. Another student, hasn't dove in the five years since he completed OW but again seemed willing to put in the work and learn/get better. Another diver, may have put in the book work, struggled with the practicals and then did not take the time to learn to do them correctly. Fourth diver, no book work, a little bit of natural skill but lazy in his learning efforts.
As the weekend of diving started, the last two divers were buddied and i was buddied with the other diving willing to work. Dive 1 - we start to gear up(keep in mind this is after a pool session 3 days earlier, so everyone should know how to assemble their gear). buddy and I are assembled and ready to dress, about 30 minutes later, the other divers are still struggling and we go to help them and find that one of them doesn't know how to connect her 1st stage to the tank...solve that. Gear is assembled, Instructor has finished getting floats and his gear and everything else needed for the day ready. Start dressing to enter the water, buddy and I know the other two will be slow, so we wait until they are halfway into their drysuits before we start. We still manage to be first in the water and waiting 25 minutes for them to get in. As they enter, diver #4 realizes, he has no weight built......another 15 minutes as an instructor for another course with the same shop sorts him out.
In the water both are terrible, do some skills but not well. Buddy and I struggled in learning the drysuit but figure it out. Surface, remove and replaces by my buddy and I no problem, other pair struggle and don't complete at this time. Told they can complete on dive 6 next day.
Dive 2- Diver 3 struggled so much that she is not feeling well and not confident, appears to be having a panic attack. Sits out this dive. buddy and I get half dressed, wait for weightless diver to have his gear almost on, ask if he is ready, then finish gearing up. Still have to wait 15 minutes for him. similar issues.
Dive 3 - Pre dive - other buddy team, one did not have a slate and one did not have a watch or timer of some form, as they were told were mandatory before. Same issues getting into water. Buddy and I complete all requirements for Nav dive before the other team finish the measured fin kicks. other issues plague them and we end up practicing hover while waiting.
Next dive the diver who skipped dive 2 decides not to dive for this day(probably a smart decision).
Dive 4 - same issues with gear and getting wet. In the water, problem diver had problems sinking because he changed undergarments and not weights, despite being told to recheck weights predive. At some point in the dive he has buoyant ascent as well. On SS he panics, takes reg out, panics more and tries to breath while buoy and panic from the spare gas bottle hanging from float. After dive, he is discussing issues with the instructor. Asked what happened and he refused to accept the advice given and did not believe that he was not out of air when trying to breath from the spare bottle despite still having 300 psi after recovering and finishing SS on his own gas.
Dive 5 - he is expected to redo the deep dive from before and the skills for dive two. Buddy and I did separate dive.
Dive 6 - Instructor reminds struggling diver that he still has to complete the surface skills. Before even geared up, diver says he won't bother and will just accept fail. Still allowed to dive though. Same issues throughout he has not accepted or implemented any advice from instructor, DM or other students at all from the weekend. At end of dive, he has feet at the surface and trying to hold rocks to stay down in 7 feet of water, then unable to right himself etc. wasn't happy when told to just surface swim in.
Long story short, two out of the four divers in our course failed and it was, in my opinion, completely their own doing because they were not active learners. Had they wanted to improve skills there were four different instructors and a DM all from the same shop who would have happily provided advice and remedial help. One of them did not put in the book work as required. They just seemed like they expected to show up and get a card. The other diver and I, were eager to learn, asked questions, got help when struggling and put in the work before and during. He and I both enjoyed the course and finished better divers than when we started, which is what we wanted going in.
The student has to have a significant responsibility in the learning process and while the training has become less extensive, there have been gear innovations and improvements to mitigate some of this.(Same thing in driving - think manual transmission, no power steering etc vs todays automatic etc vehicles) but also the students need to show their own motivation to learn and that, in general has reduced from society today. More and more people expect that they are entitled to a card because they paid for it. They don't put in the work required and they also don't feel the need to know and remember things, because they can just look it up. The other things is that divers today have a wealth of information available to them on the internet. I should know, I have made the most of it and try to absorb everything I can.
I think, that the issue today, is not the training but the students(and maybe for similar reasons, some instructors). The training has changed, but like others have said, it has be morphed into a multitude of courses to satisfy the immediate need for gratification and also to allow divers to customize their learning o what they want and to fit into busy schedules.
