Originally Posted by
PineappleXpres
Yes. Most pilots today don’t have the scholastic ability to earn the salaries of their professional peers (Doctors, development software engineers, etc). We don’t have to pretend, but we should continue to recognize the value of being in a unionized workforce. It is particularly valuable during a pilot surplus. It elevates us in a job that only requires OJT.
I agree mostly.
A lot of us have some decent academic credos. We just don't whip those credentials out at work. Also a lot of engineers, doctors, etc. are less academic than we may think when we look behind the curtains. I do think that we have lower academic barriers to entry. More depends on whether you can afford to learn to fly, afford to move for a job, etc. than whether you test into a school. Even here, we have to consider preferential selection to some schools that have very high tuition costs and proportionately low median ACT scores. Then there are institutions that turn a blind eye to academic impropriety conducted by high-paying foreign students, etc. So I'm not sure if I buy that one group is less able than another.
I think it's more that official and unofficial pressures foul-up selection and training in our industry. This is why it's important to have a unionized labor, effective standards and decentralized or at least distributed enforcement.