I
have just completed my first week as a college instructor. I am teaching there on a short contract in the aviation
maintenance programme. As you may
already know, teaching/training is not new to me; I have been training professional
aircraft maintenance engineers (AME’s) for over twelve years. I have trained them all over Canada, in the
United States, Mexico, Ecuador and, as recently as this July, Kazakhstan. There have been challenges with respect to
language; especially in Kazakhstan.
This, currently, is a whole new challenge; students that have not long graduated
high school.
What
is most interesting for me about this new challenge is the knowledge
level. I have been training professional
AMEs who already possess a significant foundation of aviation maintenance knowledge
and experience. However now I am training
a class that doesn’t fully understand the basics of aviation; port and
starboard, fwd and aft, axis of aircraft, how to cut and file sheet metal with ‘self-aplomb’
and so forth. This is not a bad
reflection on them; this is the reality of where they currently are. They are just embarking on their career in
aviation maintenance and have much to learn.
And it is here is that I face my biggest challenge; the delivery of
information that is new to a student body that does not have a foundation of
knowledge on which to build from; I am helping them in the building of that
foundation. For years I have trained on
the premise of knowledge and experience and now, for the first time, it is
simply not there. I, as their
instructor, have much to learn; a new way to deliver the information, a new way
to communicate with a younger class demographic.
The
fascinating fundamental fact of life is this; there are those that care and
there are those that don’t. It is clear
to me, at this early stage, that some of the students sincerely wish to make a
career in aviation and are paying their way through a college education in
order to attain this; they care. However
there are also a small minority of students that, perhaps, have parents that
are paying for their college education because they want their offspring to
have a college diploma; and it is here I see a great divide. For some, the price of entry is great. For others it is not. For those that are paying their way I can see
a great commitment, but some appear to be here just for the ride, and this is
completely new to me.
All
of the training I have delivered for over a decade has been to professional
AMEs that want to be in the classroom and want to learn about a new aircraft
and its systems. They want to know because
they need the qualification on their AME Licence so that they can sign a release
to return the aircraft, safely, back in to service after maintenance; a great
responsibility that must never be taken lightly. It is imperative to them that they know,
understand and graduate a particular aircraft ‘Type’ course. They care.
So
now, for the first time, I am actually training a few that do not buy-in to
that philosophy. They sometimes don’t
show up, or they leave early without letting me know; when the break is over
and it is time to start up again, they are simply not there!
You
have to show up! It doesn’t matter what
it’s for; you have to show up. Showing
up is half the battle and it is the first half.
You cannot achieve the second half before the first half. Show up.
Show up for work, school, your kid’s dance recital or sports tournament,
perhaps that sermon on Sunday. Show up
for that job interview. Show up for that
study group, that debate. Show up to
cast your vote. Show up for the day. You can’t spend the day and not show up; how
will you get anything accomplished?
It
is important that I do not take this personally. As a professional it is incumbent on me to
show up every day and deliver the knowledge.
It is imperative that I show up as if everyone wishes to buy-in to that all-important
philosophy that aviation maintenance is a profession that requires a strong
level of caring about their craft; to produce work that exemplifies and
compliments the history of aviation.
Yes, I do care; and I care immensely.
Caring;
some will, some won’t. I will not stop
caring. And I will show up.
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