By Mark Young
A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen.
~Edward de Bono
During a business trip to Florida I wound up near where I used to live, and stopped into a small airport where I kept a plane for a quite a while. I’m not quite sure, after nearly 20 years, why I decided to visit the flight center where I was based, but it called me back.
I’m guessing that the flight instructor behind the counter was in diapers when I was a customer there. We had a great conversation and some laughs, me sharing stories about how the place was, she telling how it is, and the old wooden flight center felt like home. Just the smell of the place summoned fond memories, and the experience was nicely nostalgic.
It's surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time. What from today will cause you to look back tomorrow and smile? You might just be in that place; you were probably introduced to this magazine at your local dive center and someday that store, the people you meet there and the experiences that you collect might mark a considerable time of your life. Most store owners and dive instructors are in this business to pass on to you what has such importance to them, so connecting you to diving, and a lot of great things to remember, should be natural. But sometimes even important things need a solid introduction to help them stick.
I mention this because of how the initial introduction to diving has changed. Not many years ago, people who learned to dive went through about 40 hours of face-to-face instruction. That amount of classroom and pool time allowed instructors and students to get to know one another, and a provided good conduit for the passion of diving to transfer. At some point, the industry decided that so much of a commitment to scheduled time was limiting participation, so they set out to shorten it with home study options to attract more people. As a result, some of today’s students may not spend as much time with an instructor outside of the pool sessions. But are they missing an important connection? Did we abbreviate ourselves out of the bonding that comes with spending time?
I wondered about that as I read this issue’s Instructor Tips column about the positive learning effects of instructor storytelling. It’s a reminder that much of learning happens outside the lines of a book or the glare of a screen. Observing that young flight instructor, I imagined how well she must be bonding her students to the excitement and the possibilities of aviation. I thought of her importance as a mentor, and her ability to inspire her students through the emotional desert of dry textural material.
I remember that learning to dive was an escape from my cubicled world; not a drag at all. Learning doesn’t just involve what you know; it inspires what you do with what you know. It is the emotional, not textural information that forms the strongest attachment. There is terrific benefit to being surrounded early on by the diving environment, the enthusiasm of a good instructor and sharing the excitement, anticipation and even some of the apprehension with other people who are learning too.
We in the industry want to connect you. It is important for you to help establish the connection too, especially if you don’t feel that it exists for you as it should. You don’t want to let this experience unhappen. Stop by your dive center to linger a while, and you might just find yourself stopping back in 20 years, and finding memories.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
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I didn't know we could take an online course and met who turned out to be some of our best friends (another couple) in class. We took our first dive trip together (actually with others from the store) and now we're planning a trip to the Caribbean (destination still TBD). No doubt we're creating memories for life thanks to diving. Thank you for this perspective.
ReplyDeleteUntil I started my confined-water (pool) sessions, I shouldered an awful lot of anxiety about diving and fiddling with all the gear, despite reading a few books about the scuba experience in advance.
ReplyDeleteFor me, there simply was no substitute for face-to-face instruction from an expert who anticipated my concerns, and quickly put me at ease. I also took comfort in being part of a class with people who had the same “butterflies” that I did.
Online courses may have its place, but diving is a social activity and computers are no match for the group therapy of a classroom setting.
Jeremy
Jeremy describes it as group therapy. What a perfect way to describe the classroom I was in. We had a couple of girls who were there for their husbands and you could tell weren't as interested and one was even scared I thought. No doubt they wouldn't have lasted without our support and the fun we were having. We all completed a store-led trip to Bonaire and those girls are as hooked as anyone of us. No, couldn't have happened that well another way.
ReplyDeleteThe classroom is where learning takes place. As an instructor I am appalled at the move away from face to face instruction. I teach a traditional 40 hour course that is often more than that. Scuba Educators International is the agency I teach for. We mandate a min of 32 hours for classroom and pool plus checkouts. I see when my students are getting it and when I need to stop and go over an item. The computer cannot do that. Students can pass an online classroom and still have little idea of what was there. They can pass the tests and the short review at the dive shop, but how much do the actually know? What local knowledge does the computer give them. The book is not always correst! The instructor can actually say what real world diving is. He can get students to see the answer and WHY it is the answer. Not just copy something out of the text or off the screen. Also it is shame that people pay good money to effectively teach themselves! Wht do we need shops, agencies, or instructors. Just go back to the beginning and get a Popular Mechanics magazine, build your own gear, and go dive!
ReplyDeleteMoney, laziness, and flat out greed is driving much of the industry today as evidenced by the number of useless certs that are available from some quarters. Training based on profit rather than skills. Large numbers of divers does not indicate success when those divers are barely able to function underwater with supervision. Let alone dive as independent teams as they are supposed to. Trained with the idea that they will be led around by the nose at some resort; skills have been barely gone over, some negelected altogether that used to be part of every OW class, and done with the idea that the diver will HAVE to come back for more training as opposed to wanting to. The problem is that many do not come back after getting scared, realizing they did not get all the training they needed, or angry that they were taken. Comprehensive training in the beginning resaults in divers who are comfortable and confident. They keep diving. Cutting corners to get numbers up may work in the beginning but it soon collapses on itself. Divers have died because of these changes to shorter classes and less knowledge. The agencies that do this are to blame and should be ashamed.