By The Chronicle Editorial Board
A definite quality difference is certainly evident in the instructors and classes here at CNM, because of the high enrollment in one class with a great teacher and low enrollment in classes where teachers are lacking.
Most students are able to find this out by comparing instructors in certain classes on RateMyProfessor.com, where anyone can see why some classes are great, and why some just don’t cut it when it comes to the correct quality of education or respect that students should be getting from all instructors.
So, when students are willing to fight to keep an instructor from being fired, such as in the article on page 2 “Students want their teacher back,” many student said that instructor Jason Manzanares goes above and beyond to make sure his students are getting the quality of education they need to survive in their field of aviation, and that he deserves to have a second chance.
Our school cannot afford to lose any great instructors at CNM, and the school needs to take students views into consideration more often, especially when dealing with issues involving instructors.
The Chronicle was not made aware specifically why Manzanares was put on leave, as the school was not willing to comment on human resource issues, but it is apparent that many students in his class wish to keep their instructor around, especially since he developed the program and has established the curriculum that makes the CNM aviation program worth investing in for these students.
All the students who fund this school, by paying for and attending classes, have earned consideration and some level of respect, instead of how these aviation students are being treated now, which is to be cast aside, left in the dark, and ignored by the powers that dictate whether these students get the quality of education they expect to get from CNM, or will have to go on without the teacher who inspires them every day to succeed and finish with their educations.
Students deserve to have a voice when it comes to issues with really great instructors, and with mediocre, disrespectful, or demeaning instructors, and students deserve to be heard with real concern from the school.
To have issues with instructors or the school in any capacity is hard enough as it is, but students need to feel there is good resolutions with complaints, and that the issue is not just resolved from the schools point of view, because when students are brushed off until frustration sets in, they give up.
Students should never have to feel they are not being heard by the school they pay to attend, and the school should care what students think to improve the curriculum here.
It is rare to meet and learn from an instructor who will challenge you, change your views, or help you to succeed when you need it most, so it is the Chronicle’s opinion that extraordinary instructors who teach successfully and the students that support them should be considered at this school, instead of casting them aside. Just as the aviation students have had to cope with when all they want is their teacher back.
