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A Commentary
Technical diving education should introduce a full range of diving techniques,
methods, and present several different philosophy's if they exist and are
creditable. In a perfect sense this would include experience and practical
application of this spectrum in a variety of environments. In this way the diver
should be able to make an educated decision regarding which type of diving he
prefers, what style, what methods etc.
Total information access is the real key to power in education, anything less
would be a form of censorship and unfair to the prospective candidate coming
into a new or evolving sport such as technical diving.
I can see no real benefit in ridiculing one system or method of diving at this
level. The real danger is that some educators would teach and advocate only one
system as plausible, this is simply not true.
The truth is that there are a number of different ways and methods to safely
accomplish a given goal in the scope of the dives that 99.9% of the technical
diving enthusiast will ever attempt. If one were going to be trained for a given
mission or goal then this would take on a completely different face. In this
case one would train within the parameters, scope, and limitations of the
planned mission.
The simple fact is that teaching this type of diving application in my personal
opinion, cannot be reduced to modules that produce a minimum product as an end
result. This works well for basic entry level diving, history (and PADI) proves
that. However, even at the entry level the end result diver varies by a huge
margin according to again in my opinion, the attitude and approach of the
instructor.
My personal approach with candidates is to provide them with all of the
information I can as far as methods, and techniques go, along with a solid
academic foundation. Most importantly however, is to get the time in the water
with the practical application of as many skills, drills, and dives as possible.
I do not think that anyone should come out of any level of technical training
without having experienced as close to real life exposures as possible with
regards to time in the water, depth, stress management, and many other more
subtle aspects that go into making up the mental discipline and attitude that
make the difference in that brief second you have to make the right choice when
a catastrophic problem occurs. If you do not posses this, it will not matter by
what method or means or by who you were taught, you will likely perish.
In closing I would say that I hope no one would find the above in any way
adversarial as this is certainly not my intention. I merely felt that in light
of the current heat of opinion of what is right or wrong etc., that I would
voice one viewpoint, brief in scope. I do not usually involve myself in this
medium because I do not have the luxury of time nor the desire to engage in a
debate on any of these issues. So I hope I have not offended any one's
sensibilities with my commentary. Thank you for the indulgence of your time.
T
ony M. Satterfield
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