Wannabe

If someone calls another person a wannabe; in the words of an old western movie, "Smile when you say that stranger!"

You see, the term wannabe can mean someone is trying to be something they cannot be. For instance, a person who joins a community patrol because he or she wants to be a Police Officer but doesn't qualify. It can also mean that someone is being that something they wannabe very poorly. Someone who runs for president but always ends up last in the polls is a wannabe president. Sometimes, wannabes actually make it into office. A wannabe in both these cases will always remain a wannabe.

But it can also mean that someone is genuinely interested in being something they can be. That is the case with those individuals who have the necessary qualifications to learn to drive a Class A Commercial Combination Vehicle; a "Semi" if you prefer. These people have maintained a good driving record. Their background is acceptable to hiring entities and they are drug-free.

Of course, this is just the first echelon of screening; or it should be. Are they able to hear, understand, and execute instructions? Do they have the necessary motor skills to coordinate their extremities to function accordingly in order to carry out those executions? Is their cognitive acumen sufficient to execute all the simultaneous processes that can occur while operating such a vehicle? Did you think this was a job for dummies?

Some of the smartest people out there are today's Truck Drivers. They navigate this country's Interstates and highways by directions, maps, and signs. They go places they have never been before by using their minds and their wits. They operate sophisticated technology in their everyday function. They treasure common sense as something extremely valuable; because it is. These people are Time Managers, Traffic Controllers, Customer Service Representatives, Captains, Safety Officers, Babysitters, and highly skilled operators of up to 40 tons of machinery and payload; sometimes more when they are specialized to move even heavier loads.

So, let me direct a question at those who "wannabe" one of these most excellent people: "What makes you think a 24 hour CDL school can prepare you for even a start in this profession?" I would say that those type of schools are the "wannabes" of training. And yet, they exist and do business without impediment.

The other wannabes in this genre are those schools that pay low wages and use "have-beens" to instruct student drivers going into an occupation whose demands are foreign to these "instructors" who have been away from trucking for a long time; and have not kept up with its advances, changes, or current demands, due to their involvement in construction, real estate, or some other business endeavor; or who are now retired and just need to make some extra money.

Start out with a deficiency in instructional staff, add 3 to 4 students per truck with one "instructor", and divide 8 hours of actual practice between those students; and how much "training" time do you actually receive? If the range is distant from the parking area for the trucks, that is maybe another hour or more per day during range week that you will lose.

Now, add to that 1 or more "slow" students, and it really becomes difficult for those who learn faster. It keeps the process from moving forward and affording the student, who can learn at a faster pace, more opportunity to be trained more fully. In the end, this type of school can't do much better of a job in training a wannabe. One factor in this is the complacency of its instructional staff. Another one is the combination of students who learn at different paces.

In the end, passing the State CDL Test becomes the objective they shoot for. Learn the CDL route that the state uses, learn the maneuvers they test on, and practice these over and over again until the students all feel competent to pass. Here's your CDL with a certificate that says you completed a 160 hour course according to DOT Entry Level CMV Driver requirements.

But did you really? If there were just 3 of you on that truck, you will have actually trained (hands on) for  approximately 80 hours of that 160.

It cost you, the taxpayers, or someone else an average of $4300 to attend that school. If that school has just 3 trucks running with 3 students per truck, it stands to gross $38,000 in just 4 weeks. The more students you train per truck, the better the bottom line looks. The higher the tuition; and some schools can cost up to $7,000, the higher the profit. Also, the shorter the course (say 3 weeks instead of 4) the less expense there is for the school.

Vocational Training is supposed to prepare a person to enter a field with confidence. The training must be up-to-date! The instructional staff must be "cutting-edge" knowledgeable about all facets of the industry they are preparing these people for. They cannot simply sit at their desk and browse the Internet while the students watch outdated videos. They are defrauding the students, the school, the industry, the taxpayers, and the public at-large when they do so. They must do more than entertain the students on the truck with "war stories" of the road back when they were "out there".

If we are to train "Professional CMV Drivers", people involved in doing so must first be professionals themselves. And it isn't about what one used to be. Tudaloo & Happy Trails!

Francisco H. Gomez
Commercial Driver Liaison Services