Poorly paid pilots at cheap airlines know they need to move on so are not motivated, they just want the experience
Now wait a minute here. Let's analyze this statement a bit. They "aren't motivated to learn", they "just want the experience to move on". But if they aren't learning, exactly what experience are they getting? Flight hours? Anything else? Like learning to be better flyers?
And just exactly what kind of incoming pilots do the Majors want? Someone with lots of hours that has never learned to fly, so can auger in one of their nice expensive A340s on the first try? Does that really make sense to hire someone to fly your expensive stuff if they can't find the flight deck and know how to put on the seatbelt?
I admit I'm not a pilot. But I do work for a really big company that has always paid rather less than the going industry average. And as a result, we get lots of people right out of school (can't afford to hire any other kind) with some education but no or bad experience. So we train them. And by and large (there are exceptions) they learn quickly and become really good at what they are doing. Then after about 3-5 years, they go off to another company that will pay them twice what we pay them to do pretty much the same thing or less. Since they ususally know more than they would have learned at the other company with high pay, they usually progress pretty quickly, and make a whole lot more money.
Now, maybe airlines are different. Maybe the $35K/year folks don't care if the pilots break the toys. Maybe nobody runs them thru a simulator. Maybe nobody asks them if they know what a rudder or flap is before hiring them, just looks to see that they have a degree in Flying from DeVry University. But if I was a pilot/copilot for Cheepee Airlines and had to fly with some 16 year old that learned in MS Flight Sim, I'd be darned sure I informally taught him enough stuff that he wasn't going to kill me. And if he couldn't be taught, I'd make sure I didn't fly with him. (No point in telling Management, they won't let him go until he augers in.)
(I have to wonder: Weren't there two people, both capable of flying the plane, sitting at the controls? Didn't they both have a yoke in front of them? If you are sitting there as PNF and watch the PF doing something absolutely boneheaded that you KNOW is going to kill you, is it your DUTY to remain silent and ignore it? Wouldn't it make more sense to swear and jam the stick forward? What the heck was the PNF thinking? Was he in the bathroom?)