Originally Posted by nicholasblonde

Lots of folks on here are missing the point on the 4-year degree requirement, whether it's in French or Business or Aviation, a four year degree from a REAL school (i.e. not some UVSC/Online sham of an undergrad program) does two things:

1) Teaches you to think for yourself with reason, based evidence and not emotion
2) Raises a barrier to entry and also indirectly increases age and life experience of all pilots

Most of the people I see letting the company walk over them, accepting additional flying and crappy contract terms, and being unsafe are the same ones without four year degrees and/or little life experience prior to becoming a "professional" aviator. The reason? They can't see the big picture, they can't see through the propaganda and management tactics, and they have never been put through the pressure of expressing an original thought.

I think the piloting profession is at a crossroads with this bill--we will either continue on the course of becoming blue collar gear monkeys and bus drivers to society, or we will raise the barriers to entry and society will gradually begin to respect us as intelligent professionals who can think and talk--not operators, but aviators. Sorry if that sounded corny.

We have to hold ourselves to the same academic, experiential, and professional standards of doctors and lawyers if we ever expect society to pay us the same salaries.