CAPTAINS CLASSES

With all respect to Art Pine, I have to take exception with his story about getting his Captain's license.  While it is an enjoyable (or perhaps frightening) discussion of his personal experience, I would hate to think that people reading the article would believe that all classes are taught in this manner.

 I have been teaching for one of the "three weekend" companies for two years.  In addition, I have taken and audited courses from other companies and other instructors.  I have never come upon an instructor who acted in the manner Art describes.  Personally, I have found most instructors to be knowledgeable and personable, interacting with the class on a friendly but professional level.  Most of the instructors that I have dealt with use "sea stories" to illustrate the points they are trying to make and do not take the "it's the rules, just memorize it" approach. 

 Perhaps part of the stress of Art's class dealt with the pressure of trying to learn and retain all of the information in a relatively short period of time - one of the advantages of the "three weekend" courses over the "seven day" courses is that the student is given more time to study and learn between the weekends and the instructor is available to answer questions.  I have taken courses in the format Art describes and there is significant pressure to get through the material - however, as I said above, I've often found in these situations that the instructor works to minimize the stress, not increase it.

Finally, I must take exception with Art's statement that the "three weekend" courses tend to have a higher failure rate.  I do not know where he got his information for this statement, but based on his class' "failure" rate of 20 percent, I would say that his course ranks below those that I have taught.  My "failure" rate hovers in the 10% range and that would be a student that fails one section of the four sections that I teach.  I have never had a student fail more than two of the four sections and, in those cases, the student usually failed one of the sections by only one question.  The student usually reviews the material and retakes only the section that they failed.  While it is an annoying extra step, it is certainly not the end of the world.  In addition, I have always made myself available after the completion of my courses for students who need additional time to pass a section. 

 I certainly do not want to steer anyone away from 3 Bs Captains School.  I know people who took their course and passed the test and were happy with their experience.  However, I would hate to think that someone reading that article would judge all schools by that experience.  As in most things, there are different paths to the end and if the path that Art describes does not sound like a "rewarding" experience, I would recommend that the student look at all the different options available.