Andrew Sarangan wrote:
On Apr 10, 10:38 pm, Jim Logajan wrote:
The local paper has an article about the local community college that
wants to cut the pay of its flight instructors:

http://www.registerguard.com/news/20...pilots.0410.p1....

Among other tidbits, I was surprised to see this:
"Flight technology is popular, with about a dozen instructors and
more than 100 students. The demand for pilots is so strong that most
students get jobs soon after completing the degree and flight hour
requirements."

I teach aviation at a local community college, but I am also a regular
faculty at a larger university on a different discipline. From my
experience, I agree with the comment that "flight instructors aren't
faculty in the usual sense". Faculty have to demonstrate intellect,
creativity and insights, none of which are required from a CFI. That
doesn't mean CFIs cannot have all these qualities, but merely holding
a CFI certificate does not demonstrate those qualities. The only exam
they have to take are multiple choice and the questions are known
ahead of time. CFIs range from high school drop-outs to astronauts and
scientists, so it is difficult to consider them as a single
professional group.

The article is confusing in one aspect. They say "students get jobs
soon after completing the degree and flight hour requirements", yet
they say graduating students are not qualified for the airline
industry without additional training and experience. It sounds like
the jobs the students are getting are not in the airline industry, and
if that is true, it is not a very attractive claim.

I can't get back into the original article but didn't it say something about
the CFIs got their AA and were getting their BAs at another school? As I
mentioned this is awfully like a grad student teaching undergrad students.
And I don't know of any of them that are in the union that reps the
professors at a university.