Re: [Paddlewise] ACA Greenland certification

Note: snippage happens below. I only kept stuff I wanted to respond to.

Dave Kruger wrote:
> 
> Matt Broze wrote:
> >
> > >rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com wrote:
> > >
> > >> But, boy, trying doing one [rescue] that the instructor
> > >> doesn't favor and you get tongue-lashed and put down
> > >> immediately.
> > >
> > Steve Cramer responded:
> >
> > >I would suggest that this is a function of the instructor, and not the
> > >body that accredited him or her.
> > >
> And now here's Matt:
> >
> > I would suggest the culture or system that spawned that instructor was a
> > rigid hierarchy governed by rigid rules that have hardened right along with
> > the certifiers arteries. The instructor was most likely browbeaten by the
> > certifier and now its his turn to administer the beatings. Much the same as
> > abused children are likely to grow up to be abusers themselves.

Well, having taken 2 ACA IDW/ICWs as a student (2 different disciplines)
and organized a third as assistant IT, (That's 3 more than Matt
apparently has direct experience of ;) ), all I can say is, you
Northwest types just haven't seen good instruction like we got in the
other corner of the country.

I was not browbeaten. I did not browbeat. You really believe that Randy
Carlson is a hard man with hardened arteries? Matt Levin adminsters
beatings, even metaphorical? Roger Schumann is abusive? Anne Gould is
rigid? It is to laugh. Those are all the ACA Coastal IT's I know. Feel
free to point out the ogres to me so I can avoid them.

Note, however, that these folks come from the other corners of the
country--SE, NE, SW, NCentral. Must be that awful WA-OR weather that
makes instructors up there so hard to get along with.

> Matt sits in my camp:  any "procedure," be it rescue or paddling style,
> advocated as "the" only way is wrong for some situation somewhere.  And,
> Murphy's Law being operable everywhere, it is certain all of us will encounter
> a situation demanding some variant of the "official" rescue/paddling style we
> learned.

Who could disagree with this? However, please show me anywhere in any
ACA or BCU document that any technique is "the" only way.
> 
> Always been a shake and bake guy.  However, I have learned a lot from
> instruction, even poor instruction.

I've learned from poor instruction, too, but mostly what not to do next
time I'm instructing. I've also subtly instructed instructors in how to
teach.
> 
> I think the attraction of "certified schools of paddling technique" is that
> the certification provides the feeling of security.  Overdrawn example quote:
> "Oh, wheew!  I passed that rescue class, now I'm safe.  I don't have to think
> about rescue any more."    That may be the most dangerous aspect of
> certification protocols.

Dave's got a strange idea about the purpose of certification. The
security it imparts has to do with the consumer of the instruction being
able to feel secure that the instructor has satisfied someone--other
than his employer--that he know something about paddling, teaching,
safety, and rescue. The idea that having passed a rescue class confers
perpetual safety is absurd. If a student is fool enough to think so, it
really doesn't matter whether his instructor was certified or not.

Before you fire up the reply button, I'm not saying that all certified
instructors are wonderful and all non-certs are incompetent. Matt knows
tons more about kayaking than most ACA instructors ever will. But I
spent some time last year among a group of non-certified instructors who
were all accepting money for teaching people how to paddle. Their
teaching and paddling skills ranged from acceptable to clueless. If they
complete an ACA certification course, they will be better instructors, I
guarantee.

-- 
Steve Cramer
Test Scoring and Reporting Services
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-5593
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