Learners

[donkaye]

From the NAFI Live weekly Newsletter today:

"The Class C airport where I instructed offered only full service fueling. One day I joined a learner on the ramp after he had pre-flighted the aircraft. It was only a few days prior to his private pilot exam. Noting the fuel truck nearby, I asked if the tanks had been topped off. He responded yes. I asked if he had checked the fuel caps. He responded yes. After working in the pattern, we landed to discover that one of the fuel caps was missing, along with several gallons of avgas. It was a toss-up regarding who felt worse—the learner who neglected to verify fuel cap security, or the lineman who had serviced the aircraft. Although learner pilots were taught to always check fuel cap security after service and this check had been demonstrated by instructors, the pilot still felt a sense of embarrassment checking for security in view of the line staff, thinking that it implied a lack of trust."

From the Gleim FIRC changed this year:

"For example, on a day with widely scattered thunderstorms, use a series of radar images or METAR observations to show learners that a local airport can rapidly alternate several times between clear skies and heavy rain over the course of a few hours.  a) Explain to learners that if they fail to consider the possibility of rapidly changing weather and closely monitor the weather during each circuit around the traffic pattern, they could be caught beneath or inside a thunderstorm."

I'm sure many would say that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but I am thoroughly disgusted with meaningless political correctness that is now infiltrating into flying and flight instruction in particular.  It just seems too phony to me.  Apparently the FAA has "cancelled" the word "student" in favor of "learner".

I had planned on donating large amounts of money to both EAA and AOPA when my time on earth has ended.  If I see the word "learner" turn up in any documentation coming from either of those organizations relating to "students", they will get nothing.

I'm thinking of terminating my studies of the Gleim FIRC in favor of renewing my CFI through the Wings Program and never buying a Gleim Course again.  I've been a member of NAFI since 1992 and have participated in their Master CFI Program for 20 years.  I'm probably going to terminate my membership when it comes up for renewal.  Everyone seems to be turning into sheep...

[TCC]

That change happened almost two years ago. Here’s AOPAs bit on it.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2020/july/02/whats-behind-the-faas-switch-from-student-to-learner

[Guest]

Wouldn’t the “teacher” be the person who was pilot in command for the training mission that lost the fuel cap?  He or she should bear the ultimate responsibility for the safety of the flight, including checking the oil and fuel quantity and cap installation.

Clarence

[N201MKTurbo]

Do you need a Learner Pilots Certificate to solo now?

I have noticed that political correctness strives to obscure the meaning of words. As soon as everybody understands what the word means they need to change it. It is usually because someone is offended by the meaning of the word, often not the person the word refers to.

So, who could possibly be offended by "Student"?

https://kathleenmcclaskey.com/2018/09/30/learner-vs-student/

So, it seems the current Jibber Jabber is that a student is someone you teach something. A learner is someone who is taught to figure it out for themselves.

[A64Pilot]

God, what’s next?

What does it matter?

[N201MKTurbo]

What is most offensive to me about all this is the amount of our tax dollars that are wasted on this BS instead of the FAA doing their real job.

[Hank]

Just now, A64Pilot said:

God, what’s next?

What does it matter?

My favorite quote, written in exquisite, elegant calligraphy that is nigh onto illegible:

Eschew Obfuscation

Seems the sentiment has been reversed. Can't call someone a student, it implies that they lack sufficient knowledge / experience and are lower status, all of which will negatively impact their self esteem.

I'll stop here . . . . . But Don and I largely agree.

[donkaye]

Just now, N201MKTurbo said:

Do you need a Learner Pilots Certificate to solo now?

I have noticed that political correctness strives to obscure the meaning of words. As soon as everybody understands what the word means they need to change it. It is usually because someone is offended by the meaning of the word, often not the person the word refers to.

So, who could possibly be offended by "Student"?

https://kathleenmcclaskey.com/2018/09/30/learner-vs-student/

So, it seems the current Jibber Jabber is that a student is someone you teach something. A learner is someone who is taught to figure it out for themselves.

Thanks for the link.  It's just starting to show up in all publications.  For thousands of years we got along just fine with the word "student".  Just think of all the other things that could have been done in the time that these idiots spent discussing changing a word.  

[Hank]

2 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

What is most offensive to me about all this is the amount of our tax dollars that are wasted on this BS instead of the FAA doing their real job.

Yep! Can't approve STCs, too busy updating all other documents for the latest approved verbiage and list of preferred pronouns.  

[A64Pilot]

Over 20 years ago the US Army was required to spend literally millions changing every aircraft manual to change “Cockpit” to “Crew Compartment”

They also changed Turbine inlet temperature (TIT) to Turbine gas temperature (TGT) as TIT was offensive.

However what I enjoyed was the consideration of others training, sure I was trained to kill, but guess I need to consider how they felt about being killed first?

[Vance Harral]

I don't like the sound of it, nor the rationale behind it.  The argument that language changes are a waste of resources generally resonates with me - though like most, I think there are some good exceptions.  It's especially irritating as a, uh... "mature adult" (I'm getting older too), when someone tries the change a reference you've used your whole life.

But Don, it seems foolish to punish the good organizations you mentioned on this.  Especially given the uncomfortable reality that much of the population they serve genuinely wants or at least doesn't care about changing language (and language is always changing).

Directing your anger at EAA, NAFI, AOPA, Gleim etc. for adopting the FAA's prescribed terminology is essentially saying, "Because you focused your involvement with the FAA on important things that mattered a lot, instead of this trivial thing that doesn't actually affect our goals, I'm cutting you out of my will".  It's certainly your privilege to do so.  But were I running any of those organizations, I'd say, "Sorry to hear that, Don.  We've enjoyed your support over the years, and wish you well"; and then privately tell the staff that the loss of your support was a good tradeoff vs. playing nice with the FAA on things that don't actually affect the goals of the organization.  As an actual member of some of those organizations, I'd much prefer they focus their time and energy on MOSAIC, unleaded fuel, fending off airport closures, etc.

I'll call every one of my students "Carmen Miranda", or anything else the FAA wants, if it keeps the actual focus on actually important things.  Because no society or organization in the history of the universe has ever operated without some degree of waste and inefficiency.  The best leaders focus on what matters, and don't stand on principle for things that don't.  It wasn't worth griping about Class B v.s TCA, nor "Position and Hold" vs. "Line up and wait", nor "Notices to Airmen" vs. "Notices to Air Missions".  And it's not worth griping about "learners" either.

[donkaye]

11 minutes ago, Vance Harral said:

I don't like the sound of it, nor the rationale behind it.  The argument that language changes are a waste of resources generally resonates with me - though like most, I think there are some good exceptions.  It's especially irritating as a, uh... "mature adult" (I'm getting older too), when someone tries the change a reference you've used your whole life.

But Don, it seems foolish to punish the good organizations you mentioned on this.  Especially given the uncomfortable reality that much of the population they serve genuinely wants or at least doesn't care about changing language (and language is always changing).

Directing your anger at EAA, NAFI, AOPA, Gleim etc. for adopting the FAA's prescribed terminology is essentially saying, "Because you focused your involvement with the FAA on important things that mattered a lot, instead of this trivial thing that doesn't actually affect our goals, I'm cutting you out of my will".  It's certainly your privilege to do so.  But were I running any of those organizations, I'd say, "Sorry to hear that, Don.  We've enjoyed your support over the years, and wish you well"; and then privately tell the staff that the loss of your support was a good tradeoff vs. playing nice with the FAA on things that don't actually affect the goals of the organization.  As an actual member of some of those organizations, I'd much prefer they focus their time and energy on MOSAIC, unleaded fuel, fending off airport closures, etc.

I'll call every one of my students "Carmen Miranda", or anything else the FAA wants, if it keeps the actual focus on actually important things.  Because no society or organization in the history of the universe has ever operated without some degree of waste and inefficiency.  The best leaders focus on what matters, and don't stand on principle for things that don't.

Good opposing argument.  I just disagree.  A little change here, a little change there.  It isn't going to matter.  Oh, it's not?  We're headed down a rabbit hole, and you're willingly jumping in.

[KLRDMD]

I'm a full time educator and have been for 30 years. I absolutely refuse to use the term "learner" just as I refuse to use the term "clients". They're students and patients!

[MooneyMitch]

It’s all incredibly pathetically unfortunate!! 

[Immelman]

Someone in the FAA is justifying their existence.

The Aviation Instructor's Handbook is the FAA document that teaches [is that the correct term] instructors [hope I didn't screw that up] how to teach [again, my apologies if I messed it up]:

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/aviation_instructors_handbook/media/aviation_instructors_handbook.pdf

A quick text search reveals that someone doing the editing forgot to remove the word student 3 times in their search-and-replace exercise (in the main text, not including references etc). Contrast that to learner. Guess they'll need to revise again...

Edited March 23, 2022 by Immelman

[N201MKTurbo]

My wife was a teacher for about 6 years and then got fed up with the parents and the system. She loved the kids, and we still run into her students once in a while and they seem to love her too. We talked about teaching a lot back then. So, teaching is something that humankind has been trying to perfect for many millennium. The way I see it, they had it pretty much perfected around the beginning of the 20th century. So just like most apps these days that were perfected years ago, the academics at the top have to just change things to keep busy. I don't think it is getting any better, just different for the sake of being different.

Just my dos centavos.

[Vance Harral]

41 minutes ago, donkaye said:

We're headed down a rabbit hole, and you're willingly jumping in.

OK, but we've been headed down that rabbit hole for the entire history of language.  I find the implied argument unpersuasive, that any particular set of languages changes are going to result in meaningful societal changes, either positive or negative.  It's not different this time: today's "woke" is yesterday's "diverse", which was a further yesterday's "politically correct", and still a further yesterday's "genteel".  One might as well gripe about Americanisms and Aussie slang that bastardize and demean perfectly good British terminology.  Mostly you'll find that people's definition of reasonable language coincides with whatever was in vogue around their 18th birthday.

Ironically, my laissez-faire attitude about fighting this stuff is also the result of getting older, and having seen so many of these battles turn out to be irrelevant.  The words "moron", "idiot", "retarded", and "challenged" have all been used within my grandparents' lifetime, by kind-hearted activists trying to politely address the reality that some people have less intellectual capacity than others.  They've also been used by jerks and bullies to make fun of people and take pleasure from their pain.  In the middle we have lots of people like yourself who are just irritated by the change (my wife, for example, insists that "retarded" is a perfectly reasonable word).  But no amount of persuasion can convince the kind-hearted against trying yet another campaign for respect, nor can it persuade jerks to stop being jerks, so the cycle continues.  It's no more valuable to gripe about this than it is to gripe about the fact the sun rises in the east.

I respect that opinions differ on this, lots of fun is going to be made, and some people are genuinely irritated by the waste.  But for me, while my agreement to blow with the wind probably loses me some clout with specific individuals I respect (yourself included), it's a net win.  Learning new societal terminology is no more complicated than learning new aviation terminology.  I've made a few good friends by doing so, more quickly identified a few jerks I don't want to be associated with anyway, and laughed off a few good-natured ribbings about it that are no big deal in the end.  And if the FAA - or EEOC or DOL - or the NAACP or ARC (the irony meter is pegged on those particular organizations) - are wasting time on language, people who complain about it are equally wasteful.  In the end, it's all a net nothing-burger for society.  So no, it's not a "rabbit hole".  It's just a human trail - one we've been walking since the dawn of language.  Respectfully suggest you think of student vs. learner like METAR vs. SA.  The latter change generated a ton of griping 30 years ago - and actually differed slightly in content - but no one cares or talks about it anymore.

[A64Pilot]

it’s not the language we object to, it’s the changes in the meaning, and the excessive concern of offense. 

Better change history, cause you know His is offensive, it’s Her story too.

 Remember the first Star Trek? To boldly go where no man has gone before? That’s offensive, so now it’s boldly go where no one has gone before.

Were people really offended? If so, get a life, really, There is a LOT more important things going on to worry and waste time and money on this piddly stuff that no average person gave a thought about.

Mankind never meant anything about men, not until someone got offended.

I picked gender in an attempt to not offend, but whatever I pick will offend some, and that’s the point, it wasn’t offensive until some overly sensitive person made a point to be offended.

[GeeBee]

In aviation we are all learners each and every day. If not, we should quit. Students are learners under the supervision of an instructor and that status makes them students.

 

[RLCarter]

It’s seems the older I get (61 now) the more I hate change, especially when it comes to be politically correct. I’m currently working on my CFI and old habits are hard to break, for example, in 1979 it was an “Artificial Horizon” but someone had nothing to do and had to justify their job so they lobbied for a name change. The label of “leaner”vs “student” is stupid to me (my opinion). If you’re trying to teach something to someone but they just can’t grasp it, how can you call them a “learner” if they didn’t learn, but you can call them a student. So are all learners students but not all students are learners? Me, I’m a student due to the fact I can’t wrap my head around the Fundamentals of Instruction (FOI), maybe I should change my general opinion of psychology, and least long enough to get through it…lol

[Bartman]

14 minutes ago, GeeBee said:

In aviation we are all learners each and every day. If not, we should quit. Students are learners under the supervision of an instructor and that status makes them students.

 

And private pilots are still yet learners under the supervision of the FAA, ATC, CFI, etc….

[Rjfanjet]

No longer Notice to Airmen, its now Air missions. Still depends on the airport though.

[Eight8Victor]

This appears to be the source of the term “learners”…

https://www.aacsb.edu/insights/articles/2020/07/developing-learners-vs-teaching-students

an excerpt from the website:

“Substituting learners for students, conceptually, is an exciting opportunity for both teachers and those they educate. We are now in a partnership, each of us accountable for parts of the process, but on a shared journey. This change provides a challenge for educators because learners can learn without us. The new AACSB standard on teaching effectiveness requires educators to demonstrate their lifelong learning mindset and their teaching impact. Adapting to these new guidelines is well worth the effort if we recognize that we are breaking the confines of the traditional classroom and venturing out together with our learners.”

I propose we start using the term “fixers” in place of mechanics. 

 

 

[Vance Harral]

1 minute ago, Eight8Victor said:

I propose we start using the term “fixers” in place of mechanics. 

[AIREMATT]

The one difference I see between METAR/SA OR TCA/CLASS B is that the former are getting the US to use the ICAO standard.
Student/learner is designed to generate labor costs to revise everything and justify spending more $$ in a federal budget department just to make someones ego fluff up. Student , learner, pupil, new member… doesn’t make a darn difference. If you want to learn you study, that makes you a student. 
It is futile to argue it in the “woke” world we are in, however. We are already wasting more time and money getting no progress from our “woke” leaders. Why do we keep sending them back every election to manage making no real progress other than telling us how hard they are working.

Rant over…