The new requirment is simply that Instructor applicants must hold some other instructor certification. I agree that will weed out some folks, like those who would never bother to do anything towards their instructor development other than take the mandated DPS class.jmra wrote:Yep. That and the "I thought you couldn't carry at church". There is a disconnect is the transfer of information somewhere. I don't believe it has anything to do with the shorter classes because the problem existed prior to that change. I could be wrong, but it seems I remember DPS increasing the number of classes for CHL instructors a while back because of the huge demand for the classes. Perhaps the problem is with inexperienced instructors who only teach the occasional class and never bothered to properly learn the laws or don't keep up with the laws adequately. If so, hopefully the changes in the instructor requirements will weed some of these guys out.budroux2w wrote:Is it just me or has there been an uptick of "can i carry here" threads by new members? I know that question pops up a lot since i have been mostly lurkin here for a few years, just seem like there have been more than normal, maybe I'm paranoid.
I do not; however, think the problem lies solely, or even mostly, with instructors. When I teach a class of 20 all 20 people get the same information delivered in the same manner. I will cover points two or three times, yet 19 people will get a question right on the test and 1 person misses it. Is that an instructor problem? Some folks just don't pay attention. Some folks zone out for a period of time. Some folks arrive at class with preconceived beliefs, and despite being shown facts refuse to change their minds. They then go out and still believe the erroneous information.
There are other factors. For example, I when I teach 46.035 I explain the locations off limits in detail. What I found was that, on occasion, some students would go home and read the DPS booklet on their own and see the section about churches being off limits. They assumed they missed me talk about churches, or I just failed to list churches. The reality is they failed to read on in the law to learn the rest of the info about churches, and they live forward believing churches are off limits until they come here 3 years later. They don't remember from where they got the idead that churches are off limits, so it must have been their instructor.
I changed my lesson plan to specifically explain to the class how churches, hospitals, nursing homes, meetings of government entities and amusement parks work in relation to the law.
All sorts of things cause students to believe the wrong thing. Sometimes it is the instructor, sometimes not. I assisted an instructor once with HIS class. His leg was injured and he didn't think he could adequately handle the range. I was there when he told his class that even if 30.06 signs are posted somewhere, one could only be arrested if the owner verbally told you to leave and you refused.