JamesNoBrakes

I think within limits, a student has to use trial end error, stray towards the limits to see what happens, you have to teach them right, but if you never let them mess up they'll never experience what happens at the limits and won't understand what happens there or why it's bad. More than often I've had someone that would fail to control the plane at the limits, simply because they'd never had that experience before (taking over with a student for another instructor). This isn't a haphazard "let the student go on his own" approach, but trying to make everything fit into a perfect box can really mess someone up when they are on their own and something abnormal happens. IMO, many students, CFIs and even commercial pilots, don't really understand landings and the dynamics involved, which makes it take much longer. Cue points given are often vague or make no sense when you use critical thinking, some of the directions just don't make sense to a student that lacks the common understanding. It was always rewarding though to get a new private student landing better than a commercial or cfi student that had trained with someone else. The great thing about private students is usually whatever they do, good or bad, is a direct reflection of your instruction