Warrior,
I have never seen an S/O treated in such a way. More often than not, at flight planning one of the S/O's will be asked if he/she would like to 'Have a go' with the plan,- that is run through and check the flt plan, ask the other crew members (inclding Capt & F/O) to read through and brief notams etc and make an assessment on the fuel order. If the Captain and other crew agree they will 'run' with it or discuss any differences of opinion. On arrival at the aircraft that S/O would have a large input into the management of the entire sector, and when 'in the seat' would usually be the PF. You don't get to be in the seat below 10k but other than that you are treated as 'the man'.
S/O's are fully integrated, Co-Pilot rated and respected members of the crew. Hope to see you sitting beside one day. Good Luck.
You log all the hours, and half of that goes towards flying experience and all of it goes to your Grand Total.