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
...
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.
People don't respect or pay doctors and lawyers the way they do because they have a bachelors in whatever subject they happen to have a bachelor's in. They demand that pay and respect because after their bachelors, they attend very rigorous post-bachelor's educational programs, then continue on to rigorous post-academic certification and training. The pilot career field is similar in the respect that we require rigorous training and certification, but Joe Schmo on the street isn't going to respect a pilot any more because he has a four year degree in a random subject. There are too many Joe Schmos who already have random bachelors degrees for that to really elevate the pilot career field to a "profession".
The educational requirements for doctors and lawyers aren't there to create barriers to entry into the career field. They are there because these are knowledge based professions that require that sort of study. The simple truth is that our profession doesn't require that sort of academic training. My high school physics and math classes covered more than what I have needed as a pilot. What makes a good pilot is knowledge of the appropriate regulations (which is not academic type knowledge), and the skills and experience gained from actually flying an airplane.
Yes, making a requirement for a four year degree would raise the bar for entry, and therefore help moderate the oversupply of pilots, but there is simply no justification for making that a federal regulatory requirement. As an airline, I would prefer that my employees have a four degree because it does tend to show the things you mentioned, but as far as federal regulations, requiring a four year degree would have a negligible effect on increasing safety for the flying public. If you want more capable pilots in the cockpit, we need to increase the training and experience requirements for airline pilots, not require a degree in an unrelated field.
Last edited by CaptFuzz; 02-21-2010 at 10:57 AM.