Good questions Chris but requiring a long answer some of which would
certainly scare the public. Let's just say that there are many ways that
new residents (and even some not so new residents) could off a patient.
Probably the simplest way to explain it is that all of the medications used
for euthanizing prisoners and terminal patients (in other countries) are
used by anesthesia providers each and every day. It is a matter of dose and
timing. So you can see that if not paying attention (esp in my area of
pediatrics) it would be easy to do harm.

I would thereby submit that you and I have similar situations wrt how far to
let them go before reeling them back in and not allowing harm to in my case
another person and in yours to themselves as well as you. I think with
years of teaching most of us get a good sense of students in a short period
of time. Do they ask appropriate questions? Do they know when they are in
trouble and if so do they ask for help or try to muddle through? I will
take a student with average intellect that knows when to ask for help any
day over an extremely bright one that is clueless or that refuses to admit
failure. Those types are dangerous not only in my field but would be in the
air as well.

I'll have to respectfully disagree with your statement that "we do the
majority of learning in the air alone". It certainly has not be true for
myself at least. After days that were the most frustrating learning to fly
(and in the OR) I would come home and go through it again and again in my
mind until I had a solution that would work for the next time. That not
only helped me to learn it also solidified things so that they became second
nature. Interestingly though I'm not so sure that is a good thing for an
instructor. You remember when my wife took flying lessons...she would come
home and ask me how to keep the nose straight on the initial roll and I
realized that it had become so ingrained that I had trouble giving her an
adequate answer.

We have to face up to the fact that some folks are never going to be good
teachers no matter how hard they try. Others will never be able to solo an
aircraft no matter how good the teacher. Those are the minority but
nevertheless it our responsibility as students and teachers to look them in
the eye and tell them such.

Learning is a dynamic process. If a student wants to simply "get by" i.e.
learn just enough to pass the test, then they are a danger to themselves and
others. If not today then sometime in the future. At least in the areas of
medicine and aviation.

Pretty sure this only scratched the surface. Boy would it be great to sit
around a fireplace and discuss this over a beer!

Casey