Talk about putting fear in your students; I had an instructor who knew how to do it.
- Right at the beginning of his first lecture to new HVAC students, he informs them that many would fail the class.
Some would get through certification classes and fail the final exam and need to retake it or quit. I saw some students smiling as if they had heard this before or didn’t believe it could be that hard. Other students were wide-eyed and I could see they were worried they would be one of the many that failed. My dad was the instructor, and he always let the senior HVAC technician give his speech before starting HVAC training classes. It scared some, but it made them work harder to achieve their goals. I sat in class this year, and when I heard the initial lecture, even I was worried, and I grew up in the world of HVAC. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to take the class, if I was already doomed to fail, according to Mike. When I was getting ready to go home that afternoon, I heard some guys talking about class. One was saying it was going to be a breeze. Another said about the speech and how it was meant to make you work harder and not be complacent. Knowing my dad, it was the latter, but knowing Mike, he just wanted the students to take the HVAC classes seriously. I already knew how important HVAC was to people, and I planned on taking every lesson seriously. I wanted to be the next owner of the HVAC company.