Originally Posted by
lolwut
I can't believe pilots want to be paid like engineers, lawyers, and doctors but argue about having education beyond a high school diploma.
Sure, there are exceptions out there in the workforce where a specialized skill commands a high salary, but piloting is a career that employs tens of thousands across the country. Want to get paid like a successful professional? Be educated like one. Want to slack off and be educated like someone who works at Burger King? Plan to be paid like one.
Having a college degree says a lot about the person, their experiences, their commitment, their work ethic, and their ability to achieve. It is a very valuable credential to have.
Point taken. OTOH, its kind of funny that what we're really arguing much of the time is that we deserve to have our pay raised to the levels of many non degreed professions. There are tons of plumber, electrician, auto mechanic, bus driver, trash collector, etc jobs that pay far, far in excess of many tens of thousands of professional airline pilot jobs in this country.
Even though I'm a strong critic of the value of degrees in the general population (today's college degree is yesterday's high school diploma thanks to the insane drive for eevry single person to get one as a government entitlement) I'm "pro degree" WRT pilot hiring simply as a means to set and maintain some pitance of a barrier of entry beyond the ratings. The 1500 (ish) hour limits will help a little bit in some circumstances, but we need more or we will all suffer from the bottom up price drain from wages. SJS/pay-for-upgrade/etc isn't just a regional problem. The AMA, ATLA and others keep their pay up for many of their members in large part by setting up and enforcing arbitrary barriers to entry and in some cases limiting the flow into the profession outright.
We need to fight tooth and nail the constant push for this to be a 300 hour "from high school to flight school" career.