Earning a CDL Should Mean SomethingSeptember 24, 2026
 By Eric Juarez, MC's Director of Transportation Training
Commercial drivers leave training programs and immediately take on an enormous responsibility:
safely operating some of the largest vehicles on our roads alongside our families,
coworkers, and neighbors. Recent enforcement action by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has put a renewed spotlight on the responsibility CDL training providers have to
prepare drivers properly.
I’ve spent time behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle, and I’ve trained hundreds
of students to do the same. When one of our students finishes the CDL program at Midland
College, I want to know I would be comfortable with that person driving an 80,000-pound
truck next to my family on the highway. That’s the standard.
At Midland College, we talk about our commitment to World-Class Technical Training. For me, those words carry a responsibility. They mean we prepare students for the
realities of the profession, not simply the requirements of the test.
Our Class A CDL students complete 40 hours of online instruction and 160 hours of hands-on,
in-truck training over approximately five weeks. They get out on the road and drive in real traffic throughout the Permian Basin.
They experience city streets, rural highways, construction zones, and the conditions
they will encounter once someone hands them the keys and expects them to do the job.
We teach vehicle inspections, backing, shifting, defensive driving, federal regulations,
and safe decision-making. We talk about Hours of Service and why those rules matter,
and we teach students to recognize when something isn’t right with their equipment
and what to do about it. Because once they leave MC, there won’t always be an instructor
sitting beside them.
I always say, “You can teach somebody just enough to get through a test, but I want
to build professional drivers who can handle ALL of the challenges the real world
may throw at them.” That means drivers who understand their equipment and the regulations
governing their profession, drivers who can communicate effectively and understand
safety-critical information, and drivers who recognize unsafe conditions and have
the confidence to make the right call.
That’s also why I believe good CDL schools should welcome accountability. Training
providers have a responsibility to their students, to the companies that will eventually
hire them, and to every person who will share the road with the drivers they train.
When providers cut corners, everyone in our industry pays for it.
Here in the Permian Basin, the stakes are especially high. Commercial vehicles are
everywhere because transportation is essential to the industries that keep our region
moving. The drivers we train at Midland College may eventually haul equipment, materials,
or products across West Texas and far beyond it, and I want employers to see Midland
College on a driver’s training history and know what that represents.
It should represent time behind the wheel, high expectations, instructors who understand
the profession, and training grounded in safety, accountability, and what the industry
actually demands. That is what World-Class Technical Training means to me.
At the end of the day, I don’t measure our success by how many CDL holders we produce.
I measure it by whether we’re sending safe, knowledgeable, professional drivers onto
our roads.
Earning a CDL should mean something. At Midland College, we intend to make sure it
does.
Learn more about Midland College Transportation Training.
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