Flight Directors etc
One further point here;
I think a big problem lies in the (apparent) Airbus philosophy which seems to advertise it's aeroplanes as ultra safe and if the automation is used throughout, the aeroplane "will fly itself" and you are protected throughout the flight regime.
If the avionics were guaranteed 100% safe then I guess we wouldn't have a problem, and you wouldn't need to know anything other than which button to push. However, they are not 100% safe, that is an engineering fact, and it is therefore necessary to thoroughly understand what it is you are operating, what the limitations are, and how to handle failures.