Monthly Archives: April 2015

Ten years ago, my entry-level students were required, by their training agency, to answer a test question having to do with responses to out-of-air emergencies. Students not only had to correctly identify five different possible responses, but rank them in order of desirability (yeah…like they are actually going to remember all that five years from now). Ironically, the best possible response to any out-of-air emergency wasn’t among the choices. That response? Not running out of gas in the first place.
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I saw trouble coming in advance. What I didn’t foresee, however, was that the diver in question would refuse my attempts to prevent a problem from happening. And the reason why stemmed from how he had been taught.
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Someone recently characterized diver training as 50 years of tradition, unimpeded by progress. That’s pretty much on the money. Dive instructors, as a group, often resist change, as it’s simply easier to keep doing things the same way they always have. Training agencies can be every bit as bad, as modernizing their training materials may mean having to reprint all those expensive textbooks.

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