Forget All You've Learned (Not Really)

"Forget All You've Learned At Driving School"

(Not Really)

From: "Driver's ABC's - Surviving the First Year".

Let's understand where each other is coming from….

To the Trainee

Do not heed the above advice (about forgetting all that you have learned) but do understand and accept a couple of things about why a trainer may say this – and what he/she (most likely) really means.

One of the last things a trainer wants to hear a trainee say is, "That's not how we were taught at truck driving school."

You see, he/she is far less interested in how you were shown at school than he/she is in teaching you to get something done. He/she has a way of doing "whatever" that has worked for him/her. The trainer will likely feel offended if they feel they have to "defend" their way against some trucking school. DO NOT FORGET WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED; RATHER, BE WILLING TO ADD TO IT.

Don't challenge him/her in a war of "who knows more". You may well have more book knowledge BUT that trainer has been operating that truck up and down the road so he likely has the practical, real world knowledge that just can't be learned from a book. He/she was running a truck long before you attended truck driving school and that deserves your respect.

Another thing you must understand is why driving schools get chastised the way they often do. Some schools, often called "CDL Mills", have two purposes only: to get your money and to get you a CDL. They don't care about anything "in the middle," like professionalism or making you a safety conscious, defensive driver. They embarrass every good driving school out there. They have bad reputations and that's what people remember: the bad stuff.

It used to be that a person learned to drive by being taught by dad, brother, grandpa, uncle, etc. They passed along real world knowledge, respect and courtesies. It isn't done this way very often anymore. Almost everyone attends a truck driving school. The insurance companies demand it and the carriers have little to no choice.

To the Trainer

Please let me share with you a bit of what I've learned working with trainees. I think you'll find it very interesting, if you would bear with me a minute. I also really want to explain why you should never tell a trainee to "forget all he learned in truck driving school" and why that may do far more harm than good. As a former student, a driver, then a driver/trainer, a driving instructor, and now a driver again, I promise I'm not telling a story. (a driver without a story?? Hmmm, bet you've never seen one!)

Trainees come in all shapes, sizes, colors, nationalities, religions, backgrounds, attitudes and levels of ability. Some learn fast, some slow. Some are shy and some are outspoken. Some went to 2 week, grab a CDL and go schools and some went to the best in the country. The only thing they all have in common is that each, in their own way, will be different.

Trainees get into trucking for a variety of reasons, but often times it is the result of a life change: divorce, kids moving out, lay off, economic hardship. They decide to go to truck driving school. The financial drain is tough. There's (maybe) one income to live on, perhaps no income or just a little income - if they hold a job while attending school. (Are you about to ask where's the cheese, to go with this wine (whine)? No, but really, stick with me here.) At school they discover that driving a truck is a whole lot more than going up and down the road, yakking it up on the CB radio. They get a ton of information shoved into their brain, a license in their hand and then they find themselves pushed into the loving arms of a company recruiter. (yeah, loving arms, right, you say) The recruiter paints a picture and you know what it looks like. It's beautiful and the trainee is right in the center.

Trainee packs for the road. He doesn't quite understand that it's still cold up north into April and May. He brings a jacket but no coat. He has no money to buy one. You and he run Washington state to Vermont and back to Oregon before he/she gets home to get his coat. A hundred other scenarios like this play out…as an experienced driver, you might think, "duh"! but really, before you know anything, how would you know better??

The "real world" is exciting but it's very foreign – so different than driving school. The trainee tries desperately to remember what he was taught at school. It's all he's got. Everything else is crazy now – a new truck, trainer, environment, rules, procedures – but he still has at least some small bit of knowledge to refer to, to draw upon. It's a comfort to know something small, rather than nothing at all.

But then his foundation collapses, his support base crumbles. The thing that was supposed to help him get through – to survive this whole ordeal – is deemed worthless. The procedures he's learned about shifting, double clutching, backing. Sounds like devastation, huh? Yes, it could be. That would be the likely result if he really did "forget all he learned at driving school".

Let me paint a picture. The only atlas you have is a 10 year old regular atlas. (not a Motor Carrier's Atlas) You need a better one but this is what you have. But now I'm going to take it away from you. You have to run for one month, in 48 states, on irregular routes you've never run, without that old, non-motor carrier's atlas – without any atlas at all. How would you like that? You'd likely tell me to forget it. That you couldn't do your job. That old atlas wasn't quite what you needed, but it was something – at least a reference to help give you a few clues.

That's pretty much how a trainee would probably feel if you tell him all his/her training was for nothing. The money they spent was for naught, the time taken away from family and an income producing job was for nada. Whether he/she attended a CDL Mill or a top notch driving school, he/she learned something there. Maybe you don't do it that way – okay – no problem – but say it just that way! "I DON'T DO IT THAT WAY." Better yet, tell and show him/her why your way is better, more efficient and/or more practical. He'll grow to believe in you and be more ready to accept all the new information you have to teach. So, please, DON'T TELL HIM/HER TO FORGET ALL HE'S LEARNED; TELL HIM TO ADD TO IT!

This article is an excerpt from "Driver's ABC's, Surviving the First Year," modified for the Web.

This article may appear in more detail or in a different format in the book version.