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> Question for the OW instructor types out there.. How many students have
> you failed (or told to make up more OW classes before completion) out of
> the past 100?

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I certainly have failed people.
The percentage is very small, but then I don't teach to the "average"
crowd (I deal with college students at an Engineering school - most of
them take instruction extremely well, and are smart enough to figure out
How This Stuff Works). Ken has worked with some of my OW students on
checkout dives, and will probably attest to the fact that they are
well-prepared (at least, I *hope* he will do that :-).

That said, I failed two students last year - one guy did not pass the
written exam, and did not appear to grasp even the most basic concepts
(for example, could not explain the relationship between ascent rate and
DCS). I failed the other student because she could not bring herself to
swim in full gear with her mask off (a skill that I normally require).

In the class I just finished, I had one student who freaked in open water
(did fine in the pool, but got claustrophobic on the first dive and
declined to finish the openwater portion). I had one other guy in that
class that I will probably fail, due to general inattention - he completed
the OW dives, but did not exhibit the proper "focus" (did not stay with
buddy, did not monitor gauges, could not hold a safety stop, etc).

On several occasions, I have failed students who passed all aspects of the
academic course, but could not pass the required swim tests. I normally
give the test on the first night of class, and tell the weaker swimmers
that they will need to pass the test by the end of the course, if they
want to go on the checkout dives. Most folks rise to the challenge, but I
have had a few who did not, and were not allowed to go to open water.

And FWIW, I have also failed several Cavern students that I have taught.

-JimG

-- 
Jim Greenlee (jkg@cc*.ga*.ed*)	(x-six) is one? no! x is one? no!
Lecturer,  College of Computing 	o, now (t-six) is two? no!! one?
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332 	no!! (six-one)? no!! six..is..x!

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