Bad Experience with Scuba Lessons - Advice?

Hi Everyone,

I'm not going to name names, as I'm not trying to slander anyone, but
just get advice. But I've just done two lessons with a certain scuba
training program, with a friend of mine, and we're thinking of
dropping out.

Now, this is a highly regarded instructor in the area, as far as I can
tell. He has 30 years of teaching experience, and certifies under a
well-respected certification program. When he talks you know he knows
his stuff. His staff were almost all his students and they all gave
high recommendation and praise for him. The price is also right -- one
of the best values in the area, can pay per class instead of all at
once, and none of your own gear is required to start off. Talking to
the instructor on the phone made me really confident that this guy
knew what he was doing and would make sure we did as well. Great! He
liked to spend a half an hour more in the pool than most other cert
courses in the area. Good! Lowest student-to-instructor ratio in the
area. Nice! In fact, he was even willing to let students come back for
extra classes or one-on-one extra help sessions at no extra charge.
Awesome!

However, come the first lecture, we started to have some issues with
his teaching style. Right off the bat in lecture he seemed to be going
too fast. Buzzing through material, with barely any time to write it
down, and pretty much no stopping for questions. Well, it was the
first day, we thought, and there was a lot to get through.

In the pool, things seemed rushed. Before we had even gotten a chance
to try on flippers he had started talking to everyone. Before we had
finished fitting our masks it was time to go in the pool. Swim tests
ensued (without flippers, of course) without incident. Then basic
snorkel stuff: clearing masks and snorkels.

Here's where things started getting concerning. Now, I've snorkeled a
lot before and have done a scuba resort course, so I was pretty
familiar with what was going on, and didn't have much of a problem.
However, my friend was new to all of this, and she couldn't get the
mask and snorkel clearing down. In fact, she only had time for about 2
or 3 reps of each manouver before we all moved on. She was assured,
however, that we'd have more time to practice in upcoming pool
lessons. He even mentioned that we'd do each manouver 5 times per
lesson from here on to make sure we got it. Ok, fine.

Well, other than feeling rushed and feeling like we didn't get enough
practice to get things down, it wasn't bad so far. We figured things
would get better by next class.

Well.

The next lecture was just as rushed as the first. No real time for
questions. Blasting through material. Finally got our textbooks (they
didn't come in the first day). But... well, nothing really concerning.

Then we got in the water. Things went relatively smoothly at first.
Donned the BC's and got to know them and inflating them orally.
Practiced using flippers, swam up and down the pool with a few
different strokes. Good so far.

Well, except that we didn't ever get to "repeating each manouver 5
more times." The old manouvers we learned monday were completely in
the past -- even though we hadn't gotten about half of them down at
all yet. The pace was too fast to even interject the suggestion that
we practice old moves. In fact, even when questions were asked about
current material, such as fitting the BC, he would deflect them before
the question was even finished. No time for questioning by the
students, apparently! he would usually say something like "I've been
doing this for 30 years! trust me!" (he liked touting that a lot...)

Now this is where the *real* problem occurs, that made us *really*
concerned, not just for the annoyance level of the class, but for our
own safety.

So far in the course we've learned how to swim with fins, and BC, and
how to clear masks and snorkels. We've *talked* in lecture about
equalizing, but we haven't done any exercises or practice in doing it.

In this context, he got all the students to float in the deep end,
with BC's inflated, and had his assistant demonstrate a face-first
dive. Deflate BC, get a big breath of air, kick your feet up, hold
your nose and equalize while going down, touch the bottom, come back
up with your hand above your head turning and looking at a 45 degree
angle, fill your BC, clear your snorkel.

He demonstrated this twice.

Then he had the students do it.

....

HE HAD THE STUDENTS ALL GO DOWN *QUICKLY* INTO 10 FEET OF DEPTH WITH
ABSOLUTELY NO PRACTICE ON HOW TO EQUALIZE.

Now, I've heard that you can surely rupture your ear in an 8 foot
pool. THE INSTRUCTOR HIMSELF EVEN TOLD US THAT SOME PEOPLE CAN RUPTURE
AS SHALLOW AS 4.5 FEET.

No going down little by little. No making sure everyone can equalize
and that everyone's comfortable by equallizing. Just BOOM. Down 10
feet.

My friend couldn't equalize her ears. They didn't rupture, but she
couldn't get them to equalize. She complained to the instructor about
this.

He said "did you have a cold recently?" She said "no."

he said "well, try equalizing earlier. Try it before you go down."

she said that she couldn't equalize at *all*, even on the surface.

He didn't hear her.

THEN HE HAD EVERYONE REPEAT THE EXERCISE. She still couldn't equalize.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, now, all you scuba gurus. You guys who have done the training, and
have known lots of instructors, and especially those of you who have
taught: Is this a normal way to teach this? Is this *acceptable*? Is
this even safe?

Obviously we're not going to continue learning from him. Is this the
right decision? Should we register a complaint about his teaching
style? Should we ask for our money back?

And finally: How the hell do we find a teacher who *won't* be like
this? How can we find someone who will teach us the way we need to be
taught, without wasting hundreds of dollars every time we try a new
one?

Can it be better than this? I'm afraid that other courses will be even
more rushed and pay less attention to the students. We really don't
have the money to sink into private lessons. But we really want to
learn scuba. What should we do??

Thanks for your advice.
-Ken

"PenguiN" <taylok2@alum.rpi.edu> wrote in message
news:6e01aab2.0408131029.3c4c3557@posting.google.c om...
<snip>

> Ok, now, all you scuba gurus.

I'm no guru, but I'll throw in my 2 cents.

> You guys who have done the training, and
> have known lots of instructors, and especially those of you who have
> taught: Is this a normal way to teach this? Is this *acceptable*? Is
> this even safe?

No comment.

>
> Obviously we're not going to continue learning from him. Is this the
> right decision?

If you aren't comfortable learning from him, it's exactly teh right
deicsion.

> Should we register a complaint about his teaching
> style? Should we ask for our money back?

Definitely ask for your money back.

> And finally: How the hell do we find a teacher who *won't* be like
> this? How can we find someone who will teach us the way we need to be
> taught, without wasting hundreds of dollars every time we try a new
> one?

You might ask around and see if any of the other instructors in town will
allow you to sit in on a class before committing.

>
> Can it be better than this?

Yes.

> I'm afraid that other courses will be even
> more rushed and pay less attention to the students.

Some will, others won't.

> We really don't
> have the money to sink into private lessons. But we really want to
> learn scuba. What should we do??

What area are you located in? It's quite possible that someone here lives
near you and can recommend a decent instructor/shop.

"PenguiN" <taylok2@alum.rpi.edu> wrote in message
news:6e01aab2.0408131029.3c4c3557@posting.google.c om...
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm not going to name names, as I'm not trying to slander anyone, but
> just get advice. But I've just done two lessons with a certain scuba
> training program, with a friend of mine, and we're thinking of
> dropping out.
>
> Now, this is a highly regarded instructor in the area, as far as I can
> tell. He has 30 years of teaching experience, and certifies under a
> well-respected certification program. When he talks you know he knows
> his stuff. His staff were almost all his students and they all gave
> high recommendation and praise for him. The price is also right -- one
> of the best values in the area, can pay per class instead of all at
> once, and none of your own gear is required to start off. Talking to
> the instructor on the phone made me really confident that this guy
> knew what he was doing and would make sure we did as well. Great! He
> liked to spend a half an hour more in the pool than most other cert
> courses in the area. Good! Lowest student-to-instructor ratio in the
> area. Nice! In fact, he was even willing to let students come back for
> extra classes or one-on-one extra help sessions at no extra charge.
> Awesome!
>
> However, come the first lecture, we started to have some issues with
> his teaching style. Right off the bat in lecture he seemed to be going
> too fast. Buzzing through material, with barely any time to write it
> down, and pretty much no stopping for questions. Well, it was the
> first day, we thought, and there was a lot to get through.
>
> In the pool, things seemed rushed. Before we had even gotten a chance
> to try on flippers he had started talking to everyone. Before we had
> finished fitting our masks it was time to go in the pool. Swim tests
> ensued (without flippers, of course) without incident. Then basic
> snorkel stuff: clearing masks and snorkels.
>
> Here's where things started getting concerning. Now, I've snorkeled a
> lot before and have done a scuba resort course, so I was pretty
> familiar with what was going on, and didn't have much of a problem.
> However, my friend was new to all of this, and she couldn't get the
> mask and snorkel clearing down. In fact, she only had time for about 2
> or 3 reps of each manouver before we all moved on. She was assured,
> however, that we'd have more time to practice in upcoming pool
> lessons. He even mentioned that we'd do each manouver 5 times per
> lesson from here on to make sure we got it. Ok, fine.
>
> Well, other than feeling rushed and feeling like we didn't get enough
> practice to get things down, it wasn't bad so far. We figured things
> would get better by next class.
>
> Well.
>
> The next lecture was just as rushed as the first. No real time for
> questions. Blasting through material. Finally got our textbooks (they
> didn't come in the first day). But... well, nothing really concerning.
>
> Then we got in the water. Things went relatively smoothly at first.
> Donned the BC's and got to know them and inflating them orally.
> Practiced using flippers, swam up and down the pool with a few
> different strokes. Good so far.
>
> Well, except that we didn't ever get to "repeating each manouver 5
> more times." The old manouvers we learned monday were completely in
> the past -- even though we hadn't gotten about half of them down at
> all yet. The pace was too fast to even interject the suggestion that
> we practice old moves. In fact, even when questions were asked about
> current material, such as fitting the BC, he would deflect them before
> the question was even finished. No time for questioning by the
> students, apparently! he would usually say something like "I've been
> doing this for 30 years! trust me!" (he liked touting that a lot...)
>
> Now this is where the *real* problem occurs, that made us *really*
> concerned, not just for the annoyance level of the class, but for our
> own safety.
>
> So far in the course we've learned how to swim with fins, and BC, and
> how to clear masks and snorkels. We've *talked* in lecture about
> equalizing, but we haven't done any exercises or practice in doing it.
>
> In this context, he got all the students to float in the deep end,
> with BC's inflated, and had his assistant demonstrate a face-first
> dive. Deflate BC, get a big breath of air, kick your feet up, hold
> your nose and equalize while going down, touch the bottom, come back
> up with your hand above your head turning and looking at a 45 degree
> angle, fill your BC, clear your snorkel.
>
> He demonstrated this twice.
>
> Then he had the students do it.
>
> ...
>
> HE HAD THE STUDENTS ALL GO DOWN *QUICKLY* INTO 10 FEET OF DEPTH WITH
> ABSOLUTELY NO PRACTICE ON HOW TO EQUALIZE.

Once you know "how" to equalize, the only thing left is to do it. It's not
really something you can learn on the surface, even if many divers
recommending first doing it there. To actually equalize, you need the
external pressure to equalize against. It's hard to practice something that
requires pressure, while still on the surface. In fact, if you do it too
forcefully, it can be dangerous.

> Now, I've heard that you can surely rupture your ear in an 8 foot
> pool. THE INSTRUCTOR HIMSELF EVEN TOLD US THAT SOME PEOPLE CAN RUPTURE
> AS SHALLOW AS 4.5 FEET.
>
> No going down little by little. No making sure everyone can equalize
> and that everyone's comfortable by equallizing. Just BOOM. Down 10
> feet.
>
> My friend couldn't equalize her ears. They didn't rupture, but she
> couldn't get them to equalize. She complained to the instructor about
> this.

I have to ask, did your friend experience acute pain? If not, she was
probably equalizing better than she thought. Perhaps the real problem was
that it is so easy for her that she didn't even notice it had happened.
Some people are like that. Wish I was. If she did feel severe pain, the
obvious question is "why didn't she head back to the surface immediately?"
I would not have thought anybody had to be told that it's not supposed to be
painful.

> Ok, now, all you scuba gurus. You guys who have done the training, and
> have known lots of instructors, and especially those of you who have
> taught: Is this a normal way to teach this? Is this *acceptable*? Is
> this even safe?

There is no normal. You already know the answers to the other questions.
You've seen his other students. The real question is, "is this the
instructor for you?" The answer may be no. Perhaps you need more attention
and more time to learn than those that are comfortable with your
instructor's performance. If so, you're right to go elsewhere are, perhaps,
ask if he would consider more personal, slower paced lessons for you and
your friend. Perhaps private or semiprivate lessons are more appropriate
for you. It will probably cost you more, but probably not as much as paying
for another course.

If you are not happy with the instruction you're getting, you probably
should ask for a refund, but you're probably not going to get one.

> Obviously we're not going to continue learning from him. Is this the
> right decision? Should we register a complaint about his teaching
> style? Should we ask for our money back?

It's your right to register a complaint, but if the majority of the
instructors students like his style, your complain isn't likely to have a
lot of effect. It's not the instructor's fault that his style is not right
for you, well, not entirely his fault.

> And finally: How the hell do we find a teacher who *won't* be like
> this? How can we find someone who will teach us the way we need to be
> taught, without wasting hundreds of dollars every time we try a new
> one?

You ask more about class size and timing. Some courses are more rapid paced
than others. Perhaps a slower one is more appropriate for you. If so, you
want one that provides more time per session, more time between sessions
and/or more sessions in total.

> Can it be better than this? I'm afraid that other courses will be even
> more rushed and pay less attention to the students. We really don't
> have the money to sink into private lessons. But we really want to
> learn scuba. What should we do??

What's good for one is not always good for another. It appears this
instructor is not for you, but it's not entirely his fault. He probably is
right for others. Personally, I prefer a brisk pace, but my preferences
need not be yours.

Lee

In message <6e01aab2.0408131029.3c4c3557@posting.google.com >, PenguiN
<taylok2@alum.rpi.edu> writes
>Great! He liked to spend a half an hour more in the pool than most
>other cert courses in the area. Good!

Did he do this - half an hour more?

>Lowest student-to-instructor ratio in the area. Nice!

Is it?

>In fact, he was even willing to let students come back for extra
>classes or one-on-one extra help sessions at no extra charge. Awesome!

You dont mention having asked for this. Why dont you try?

You must have discussed the speed with other students - are all the
others comfortable with it? If not, you could ask him to slow down as a
group.

During my PADI Open water, I read the book on my own, watched the video
on my own, answered the Knowledge questions, asked a few questions
before/during/after class, did the multiple choice exam - fine. If
someone had slowed me down, I would probably have been as cheesed off as
you are with the speed of things. He sounds like my kind of instructor
but ...... Different Strokes?

I was slightly concerned that my instructor was whizzing through things
in the pool, and said so. He said that I would be doing most of the
simple things regularly as a matter of course e.g. mask clearing,
equalising, inflating/deflating BCD, putting together and taking apart
kit, etc. and he was right.

In addition, everything is practised again in the open water dives,
(sea, lake, or whatever).

By the end of 2/3 pool sessions, and 4 Open Water Dives, and a bunch of
reading the manual alone, or with your friend, you should be familiar
with the theory, safety, and practice. You will be doing many things
automatically as you build your skills and, at the end of the course,
you will be ready to start practising getting better at the things you
have learned.

When you do the CESA, when you get to the surface, dont forget that you
are simulating No Air and arent allowed to inflate your BCD with the
buttons - it must be by mouth <g>

Like somebody else has said, you equalise or you dont. If you dont,
ascend a bit and try again. If it doesnt work, you dont dive. Try gently
on the surface, then every metre, or even all the time.

My other half didnt get it all during the sessions, but she belongs to a
NAUI dive club and went to their pool sessions each week for extra
practice with her instructor.

Dont forget to ask him about the 1 to 1, or 1 to 2, extra sessions free
of charge as promised.

--
Richard Faulkner

On 13 Aug 2004 11:29:39 -0700, taylok2@alum.rpi.edu (PenguiN) wrote:

>highly regarded instructor
>30 years of teaching experience
>The price is also right
>none of your own gear is required to start off
>Lowest student-to-instructor ratio in the area.

And you're going shopping for a better instruktor? Good luck! You're
getting a certification card ... that's it. You seem to have lost
sight of that.

>THE INSTRUCTOR HIMSELF EVEN TOLD US THAT SOME PEOPLE CAN RUPTURE
>AS SHALLOW AS 4.5 FEET.

Sounds like a proper warning was provided. If you and your partner do
not know the meaning of self preservation, perhaps you should find a
less 'dangerous' hobby.

>My friend couldn't equalize her ears. They didn't rupture, but she
>couldn't get them to equalize. She complained to the instructor about
>this.

Equalization is a 'talent' each individual must develop. I learned
how to equalize by accident flying the friendly skies. I applied what
I learned through air travel to diving, and I have never had to pinch
my nose to equalize.

>He said "did you have a cold recently?" She said "no."

That was SCUBA tact. Recognize it ... and respect it.

>THEN HE HAD EVERYONE REPEAT THE EXERCISE. She still couldn't equalize.

Here's a suggestion: Next time you're with your partner in a pool,
descend slowly down a ladder or other stable object. I can't think of
any better way to control your descent while practicing equalization.
It'll keep your hands away from your nose ... you'll have to be
comfortable holding your breath while doing a bit more than diving to
depth or simply nothing at all ... you (or her) have absolute control
over your depth.

If there's no time during class to do this, make time for it
elsewhere. People will always learn at different rates. You'll
definitely want to do this exercise before diving to 60 feet.

I've never seen anyone describe how to equalize in a way that I could
understand and readily translate to a newbie. Think "yawn under water
without getting water in your mouth and nose." Maybe someone else
here will try to do better.

>Is this a normal way to teach this? Is this *acceptable*? Is
>this even safe?

Again, you're demonstrating that _you_ have lost sight of your goal:
To become a certified diver. You clearly state below that you cannot
afford private lessons. Why are you trying to get something you're
not paying for, from this instruktor?

>Obviously we're not going to continue learning from him. Is this the
>right decision? Should we register a complaint about his teaching
>style? Should we ask for our money back?

You need to rethink this bad decision. You need to communicate. You
have a problem (everyone does ). Recognize it, deal with it, move
ahead. Hopefully, you haven't burned any bridges with this instruktor
and you can finish what you've started without any financial loss.

>And finally: How the hell do we find a teacher who *won't* be like
>this? How can we find someone who will teach us the way we need to be
>taught, without wasting hundreds of dollars every time we try a new
>one?

Hmmm ... get certified ... find some dive buddies who are more
experienced than you are ... dive with them a lot ... ask them lots of
questions. You're taking a certification course ... don't confuse
this with "training."

>Can it be better than this? I'm afraid that other courses will be even
>more rushed and pay less attention to the students. We really don't
>have the money to sink into private lessons. But we really want to
>learn scuba. What should we do??
>
>Thanks for your advice.
>-Ken


--
Barnacle Barney
That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
-Friedrich Nietzsche-

"Barney" <currently@home.com> wrote in message
news:411db577.4472015@news-server.nc.rr.com...

> I've never seen anyone describe how to equalize in a way that I could
> understand and readily translate to a newbie. Think "yawn under water
> without getting water in your mouth and nose." Maybe someone else
> here will try to do better.

Oh common.

Lets have some fun;

Lets describe how to clear while wearing a MKV...

I'm getting the feeling that a lot of you don't understand the issue
here.

Going too fast wasn't the problem, as we could have taken him up on
the extra lessons to catch up.

The problem was that we felt he was ENDANGERING US RECKLESSLY.

We had only talked briefly about equalization. We had no practice at
all doing it. Without making sure that all the students could actually
do it, he sent us all down 10 feet in a rapid surface dive manouver.

Now, according to what HE said, and what some people on this NG have
said, some people *can* rupture their eardrums in 4-8 feet of pool
water if they don't equalize.

This is NOT an issue of "pace." This is an issue of SAFETY.

When I took the resort course, the first time we tried equalizing was
with our regulators in our mouths, so we could go down a few feet at a
time and make sure we got it down. Someone in an older message on this
NG said she teaches her students to equalize by having them slide down
the bottom of the pool at their own paces.

This guy had *everyone* just shoot down 10 feet from the get-go. EVEN
AFTER MY FRIEND COMPLAINED THAT SHE COULDN'T EQUALIZE HE HAD HER GO
DOWN AGAIN WITH VERY LITTLE ADDITIONAL ADVICE.

And she did feel sharp pain in her ears. No, she didn't "surface
immediately" because she was DOING WHAT THE INSTRUCTOR TOLD HER TO DO.
Don't blame the student for the instructor's mistake!!

We found out later that she couldn't get the valsalva manouver to
work, but the ... i think toynbee manouver? ... where you close your
mouth and nose and swallow, worked great for her. Now don't you think
this is something the INSTRUCTOR should have told us? No, we had to
figure it out reading the book. And he didn't get the books to us
until the 2nd lesson, so don't blame it on us again by saying we
should have read ahead of time.

Finally I don't see why "the majority of students thought it was ok"
will mean the complaint is null and void. How is this *not* reckless
and dangerous to send students *rapidly* down to a depth where people
*can and have* burst their eardrums without making sure *everyone* is
comfortable with equalizing???

Ken

"PenguiN" <taylok2@alum.rpi.edu> wrote in message
news:6e01aab2.0408140744.41966d89@posting.google.c om...
>
(snip). How is this *not* reckless
> and dangerous to send students *rapidly* down to a depth where people
> *can and have* burst their eardrums without making sure *everyone* is
> comfortable with equalizing???

I find it hard to believe that the instructor had the students descend
rapidly. No new divers that I've ever met can descend rapidly without
experiencing equalization problems.

There may, however, have been a misunderstanding. In any event, equalize on
the surface before descent, equalize again as soon as descent begins and
then every foot or so as descent continues. Equalize early, equalize often
and take as long to descend as it takes. If there's a problem with the
ears, ascend a foot or so and try again. Don't descend until comfortable.

"PenguiN" <taylok2@alum.rpi.edu> wrote in message
news:6e01aab2.0408140744.41966d89@posting.google.c om...

> This guy had *everyone* just shoot down 10 feet from the get-go. EVEN
> AFTER MY FRIEND COMPLAINED THAT SHE COULDN'T EQUALIZE HE HAD HER GO
> DOWN AGAIN WITH VERY LITTLE ADDITIONAL ADVICE.

BFD. Some of us can't always equalize in the time it takes to dive to the
bottom of a 10' pool. It's only 10 frickin' feet. Deal with it. As a dumb
kid I would go snorkeling around Catalina, diving 20' or more, putting up
with the pain in my head because it was cool down there.

We dive because it's cool down there. You will experience pain in your
ears, pain in your sinuses, bloody noses, cold, strong desire to urinate (if
in a drysuit), sore lungs, mask squeeze, sunburn, cramps, miscellaneous cuts
and scrapes and stings from various marine organisms that take a month to
heal. I've often experienced all that on a single dive. I've been conked
on the head plenty of times and had a tank dropped on my foot twice. I've
seen much worse happen to others. People die in this "sport" and I've seen
that too.

And you're whining about a little ear discomfort at this stage? Do us all a
favor. Take up golf.

> We found out later that she couldn't get the valsalva manouver to
> work, but the ... i think toynbee manouver? ... where you close your
> mouth and nose and swallow, worked great for her. Now don't you think
> this is something the INSTRUCTOR should have told us? No, we had to
> figure it out reading the book. And he didn't get the books to us
> until the 2nd lesson, so don't blame it on us again by saying we
> should have read ahead of time.

That's the only thing IMO your instructor did wrong. If he's going to fly
through class, you should at least have done some advance reading, watching
a video, whatever. Then you become a Von Fourche, merely fine-tuning in the
pool all the stuff you already know about in theory.

> Finally I don't see why "the majority of students thought it was ok"
> will mean the complaint is null and void. How is this *not* reckless
> and dangerous to send students *rapidly* down to a depth where people
> *can and have* burst their eardrums without making sure *everyone* is
> comfortable with equalizing???

Haven't you ever been graded on a curve?

hello,

the post ken made left out a few details. since i am the "friend" in
question i just thought i'd clarify and add some things and hopefully
answer some of the questions in the process, to give you a clearer
picture.

taylok2@alum.rpi.edu (PenguiN) wrote in message news:<6e01aab2.0408131029.3c4c3557@posting.google. com>...

> In fact, he was even willing to let students come back for extra classes or
> one-on-one extra help sessions at no extra charge.

someone here suggested i ask about extra one-on-one help sessions:
first of all i believe the way he presented it you would need to go
through the whole course first. this means a)paying everything before
i would even be sure that the instructor would ever be of help to me;
and b) having to go through significantly harder and potentially more
physically dangerous drills before i'd be able to actually get the
basics down. as ken mentioned, the class was simply too fast-paced to
be able to practice any manuever more than twice. because of this i
would not feel comfortable or safe "moving on" to drills that
incorporated multiple manuevers without first being able to know what
i was doing with the individual ones comprising the drills.

and more importantly, if this guy is already helping to make the
classes a nightmare for me due to his teaching style, what makes
anyone think i'm going to suffer through the course with him only to
be rewarded by getting ONE-ON-ONE time with him? ugh. no thanks.

hopefully i'll explain why i feel this way in an adequate manner.

> Right off the bat in lecture he seemed to be going too fast. Buzzing through
> material, with barely any time to write it down

it was physically impossible at times for my hand to keep up writing
this stuff down. if we'd had the books the first day and actually been
assigned chapters to read, it would have perhaps been easier for me to
filter what needed to be written down and what was already in the book
for me to read. but that's neither here nor there. i've been to
college. i've taken notes. i know the basic idea. when someone is
talking so fast you can't actually hear individual words clearly
enough to jot them down = problem.

> In the pool, things seemed rushed. Before we had even gotten a chance
> to try on flippers he had started talking to everyone. Before we had
> finished fitting our masks it was time to go in the pool.

he was kind of a jerk when i asked him to demonstrate mask fitting
again. i'm not going to go into details, but i felt he was rather
belligerent. as far as fins go, by the time we were done getting
everything else he was ready to start lecturing and was impatient. we
were told to just grab some we felt would fit. there were a ton of
fins there. we did what we could. come second lecture, we noticed
everyone but us had adjustable straps on their fins. we were the only
two who did not. when i mentioned this to him he said we'd be fine.
however...

maybe it's just because it was my first time ever using fins but my
feet started cramping up before i'd gotten halfway down the pool
(flutter kicking) in them. in addition i'd sprained my ankle last fall
and it hadn't acted up in months and suddenly there was the pain
again. i'm wondering if it would have been easier for me if the fins
had fit better (ie had straps i could adjust)? here i'm not sure.

the first class, then, wasn't the worst thing ever. what i was
concerned about at that point was that the instructor seemed to be
extremely lousy at answering my questions. either he would act all
impatient when i had any or he would pretend they weren't relevant
somehow and shrug them off.

the second lesson to me was infinitely worse. this time we had BC's
to put on. luckily he picked them out for us and we didn't have to go
through the nightmare of pretending to know how to size. i was
curious about the straps, particularly the velcro abdomen strap which
seemed to be too loose or too tight or too bulky no matter how i
fiddled with it. so i asked him what i felt to be a straightup
question: "so should the strap here be loose or tight? what's better?"
he responded: "trust me, it fits." i said "no, i mean, should i be
tightening it so it's snug or wearing it more loose?" he repeated in a
snappy tone "trust me, it fits it fits it fits it fits" as he actually
walked AWAY from me and left the room for a few minutes. i said as he
was leaving, "that wasn't even my question." he didn't hear me
apparently.

behind me i could hear the students muttering to themselves and
nervously laughing. according to ken, one of them had said to another,
"wow, don't ask HIM any questions."

the very first couple minutes of the lecture, the teacher had
explicitly said, "i am going to cut off your questions more often than
not because you know what? i've heard them all before and i can give
you the answer before you even finish. it's quicker that way, it saves
time."

so here we are in a safety course and the teacher has already
established the fact that he's not even going to fully listen to any
individual concerns we have; he's going to assume that he knows
exactly what we're asking before the full sentence is even out of our
mouths and he's going to give us some response of some sort. great.
you can see how well it worked with my question above. and you can see
the students' reaction to that kind of teaching. he's basically at
that point made a student afraid to ask anything for fear of being
talked down to. in my case i was just frustrated that he didn't even
come close to answering my questions. this is not the only example,
but just one of many. he would consistently do this when i asked
things.

another example had to do again with the fins. i wanted to know if
there was a good technique for turning around when we came to the edge
of the pool after doing a practice lap. i asked him "what is a good
way to turn around?" can you get much simpler than that? so this time
he responded with a joke to my straightforward question: "oh, just put
on your left turn signal." then he again swam away from me before i
could tell him i really was having trouble. this was another pattern
with him. it's like he doesn't want to find out someone has more to
ask or that he got the question wrong.

> Well, except that we didn't ever get to "repeating each manouver 5
> more times." The old manouvers we learned monday were completely in
> the past -- even though we hadn't gotten about half of them down at
> all yet.

this is true. it never even came up. so much for promises.

the example of the face-first dive was what ken was really focussing
on in his post, and i'm surprised that more people don't have an issue
with this. how can an instructor tell us about ten times that it's
very important to go slowly down equalizing all the way and that you
can injure your eardrum at just FOUR feet depth, and then tell us to
go relatively quickly head first to the bottom of a TEN foot pool when
equalizing hasn't been practiced? forget whether or not you think it's
unsafe for a moment: he's just attempted to scare us about equalizing
and he really thinks we're just going to forget that and do this
manuever out of the blue with no apprehension? that struck me as odd.

now, i had trouble equalizing my ears. that is true. i did not have
acute pain. i could just still feel pressure. i've been to the bottom
of a ten-foot pool many a time before i even knew (or cared) about
equalization and i have never burst my eardrums. i did not have a real
fear of injuring my eardrums. it simply pissed me off that when i told
him i had trouble he didn't even suggest i practice it. i went down
again trying to practice it and it didn't work. it would have been
nice to have time to go to a shallower spot and go down slower but
again i run into multiple problems:

a) not enough time
b) i'm wearing a BC and fins, two new pieces of equipment i've never
swam with before. i don't even know how to turn around in fins
properly.
c) i'm holding my breath, which means not enough time UNDERWATER to be
mucking around. yeah, we were using snorkels. we had not done
regulators yet. i hear that's lesson three and i hear it's a hell of a
lot easier to equalize when you aren't worrying about your air supply.

so yes, i did the drills. i felt comfortable enough with the safety of
my eardrums to do so. but i am not going to be able to dive 30 feet
without knowing how to equalize. also, how was the instructor to know
i'd be "fine" doing it? my eardrums don't rupture but some people will
have, or have had that problem. some people are going to be more
intimidated by his teaching style and force themselves to do a drill
even if they feel the sharp pain; how is he going to handle that? we
just feel that it would have been much better to do it safer and more
slowly. and it would have been nice for him to address my concerns.
he didn't know how much it hurt or didn't hurt. i never told him. his
advice was to "try it again." DANGEROUS (in my mind).

someone suggested that we talk with him about this and see if he
couldn't go slower or suggest other alternatives. we actually did
speak to him after the second class. we mentioned that we felt he was
going too fast for us; he replied that his class is the normal pace of
a scuba class. we mentioned that we didn't feel comfortable doing
many of the manuevers and i specifically mentioned that most of the
time i could not follow what he was teaching. he then said that it
must be a problem with me because "everyone else was getting it" (how
would he really know, the way he teaches?). he then accused ken of
"dragging" me into the sport when i didn't really want to do it, asked
in a roundabout way if i had a learning disability, and told me he'd
seen my problems before and that i was not unique.

he could not ever accept that it might just be a clash between his
teaching style and my learning style. not once did this even cross his
mind.

asking whether we should take this course again really to me is more
of a rhetorical question. OF COURSE we ain't goin back. i don't feel
safe learning from this guy at a SAFETY course! asking whether or not
this is a normal way to progress in the class seems to garner few
responses, but i'm wondering specifically: how did you learn? was it
like this, where you couldn't even absorb the material because it was
going so fast? where if you didn't get the manuever or feel very
comfortable about it, too bad, time's up, on to more dangerous or
complicated techniques? i don't really believe that everyone else in
the class "got it" and i didn't; i sensed a degree of discomfort
there. i remember one other girl besides me has glasses, and when i
mentioned to the guy i couldn't see the hand signals he was
demonstrating as we sat there with masks on, she only spoke up after
that: "oh by the way i couldn't see you either." do you think she
would have spoken up at all? c'mon, you know how students are. they're
generally afraid to look like asses or incur the teacher's wrath.

by the way, any suggestions of more "patient" scuba instruction in the
boston area (where we are) is much appreciated. i'll pay any price.
that class didn't knock the scuba bug out of me yet.