Well I'm still at it, many years on. You are commenting only on the club scene. This is little different from the situation in other sports/hobbies/pastimes. The trouble with aviation is the blurring of the boundaries between the hobby and the profession.
I could earn more if I chose to go back to doing it rather than teaching it. The pay in my specialisation is reduced by the permanent threat from people who are prepared to work for little or nothing. That’s not a whinge; just reality. There is a downward price pressure on my employer, so they will pay me only what the market will stand. At a certain point, they will accept the quality sacrifice and go for ‘cheap’ inexperience. A couple of years ago, they did take on a lot of inexperienced non-career instructors. Quality suffered, business suffered, many of the new recruits moved on, a few stayed and developed into fine instructors. But it had the effect of putting a cap on my salary.
It’s the same in the club scene. You start out accepting anything to build your hours, you don’t know your ars3 from your elbow. Despite all odds, some actually develop their skills, and become quite good instructors. But then, along comes another greenhorn, willing to take any cr4p just as long as they can sit along side someone who’s paying to turn the prop.
It’s not a good state of affairs; the instructors don’t benefit, and the punters certainly don’t. Not even the schools do well out of it. However, as long as people are not prepared to pay for quality, the market will reduce quality and instructor pay and conditions to the lowest common denominator.
By the way, I still get a buzz out of teaching a hard-working and motivated student. That’s why I’m still doing it.