On 2008-09-12 13:57:33 -0700, "Ol Shy & Bashful" said:


Dudley
Can you honestly say you have never ever said "What the fu*& is going
on here?" or some variation of that theme?

Personally, I can honestly say it. I think I can instruct without being
abusive. People do not listen to abuse. They expect honest criticism,
but not abuse. It has nothing to do with "touchy feely" and everything
to do with being able to communicate. When abuse begins, instruction
and learning end. The client is now only interested in avoiding further
abuse.

Frankly, I don't think that a bully makes a good instructor. And sooner
or later you are going to get somebody that does not tolerate bullying
well... And they might be bigger than you. Somebody who pointlessly
curses at me is asking for a knuckle sandwich -- or a 2x4 across the
chops.

Bullying and abuse will make the student afraid to ask questions. This
leads to poor management and encourages a pilot to refuse to admit
mistakes. Abusive training creates dangerous, inflexible pilots who are
often incapable of dealing effectively with problems or even seeing
problems.

General Patton believed that foul language helped his men to remember
what he told them. All too often, though, what they remembered was the
foul language -- not the lesson that Patton was trying to teach.

Now, I know some fine instructors and examiners who use a lot of foul
language. I do not consider the foul language to be one of their
assets, however. They are good instructors in spite of their faults,
not because of them. A man who loses control and begins swearing is
telling me that he is on the verge of panic, or worse, -- not what I
would call a fine attribute in an instructor. It screams incompetence
and insecurity.

An instructor who suddenly explodes or who otherwise appears incapable
of controlling his temper is not just a bad instructor; to my mind he
should not be anywhere near an airplane. He is mentally or emotionally
unfit to be a pilot. I am not saying that you are such an instructor,
you understand. I simply say that this is the message I get from an
instructor who seems unable to rule himself.


--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor