If you're new to diving, or even if you have been diving for decades, you might sometimes wonder whether minimum diver training requirements set forth by the ruling bodies that created diver training standards are adequate. Are new divers learning everything they need to know to have a safe experience each time they dive? Are instructors, divemasters, and other professionals learning all they should? When you sign up for a course in wreck diving, cave diving, or technical diving of any kind, can you be assured that what you are learning is going to be adequate for the circumstances you might face once you're in a unique underwater situation? Let's take a closer look.
Current Diver Training Standards are Designed Around Performance Based Learning
Diver training standards have changed dramatically over the past several decades, and today, it is possible to take a quick introductory course at a resort, and find yourself learning to dive while you're actually in the water. You don't have to learn a lot of classroom material in an intro to scuba course, which is probably a very good thing for the industry - no one in his or her right mind would want to spend hours in a classroom while on vacation. Back in the days before BCD's and modern dive computers, anyone who wanted to don a mask and fins had to hit the books hard before ever thinking about jumping into even a training pool. It used to take about two months to earn a basic c-card.
Today's divers learn more through experience; thus, the focus is on performance based learning instead of time based learning. Students still need plenty of time for practice and mastery, which is why we focus so much on dive logs as a means to measure experience. Much classroom instruction has become incredibly flexible, thanks to online learning and independent study; this allows instructors to teach diving in a "hands on" fashion - much in the same way as kids learn to ride bicycles and teens learn to drive cars. When a person experiences something, the lesson sticks. It becomes ingrained in muscle memory, and isn't just something learned from a book. Today's modular training techniques are designed to maximize proficiency in the water, and that's as it should be.
It's All About the Skills
If you had to change a tire, without having ever practiced the act of jacking up the car, removing the tire, and putting a new one in place, you could do it after reading a set of instructions; but, the whole time, your stress level would be through the roof, and your techniques would definitely be a show of trial and error. If, on the other hand, you had someone with you, providing you instruction as you went through the process, you would learn how to change a tire properly, and you would never forget the lesson. If you had to change another tire shortly thereafter, you would do pretty well and you would feel quite confident that you were doing the tire change properly. While changing tires and learning SCUBA are two very different things, the same principle is at work in this example.
People learn best by doing. Of course, it's important to repeat and ingrain lessons until they are second nature. Running students through drills dealing with lots of different situations and emergencies are just as important as teaching new divers to continuously monitor their gauges; teaching problem resolution is just as important as teaching problem avoidance. By hands-on learning and with plenty of practice, students learn to capitalize on their strengths and recognize their own limitations.
At the same time, it is important for new divers to understand that what they learn in entry level courses is just that - the basics. A good instructor will not miss the opportunity to tell his or her students about the importance of learning to master more techniques for dealing with emergencies before heading to more challenging dive sites. A thorough understanding of training requirements, and skill sets built one upon another helps to create well-trained divers who can think and act quickly in an emergency. Dive training standards are adequate; it is up to us to ensure our experience levels are appropriate before placing ourselves in situations that might place us in danger.