Having trained in the RPPL/PPL days, and added a Class 4 rating later, the single biggest message that I took home was that I was by no means a fully competent instrument pilot. Over many later years of buzzing around the bush NVFR, that message was reinforced, despite one ot two pretty scary - and I suppose competently executed - episodes of escaping spatial disorientation. I would never say throw in the towel in any situation while there were recovery avenues to try but the message of avoiding the IMC situation in the first place can't be over-stressed.
Fast forwarding a bit, I can appreciate what instructors are up against in trying to transfer wisdom to students. I speak to quite a few RA Aus pilots and am dismayed at the level of confidence some seem to have in their abilities to navigate and control the aircraft in bad weather. I've met PPLs with the same problem over many years, but I think the availability of relatively cheap instruments and/or glass cockpits (of unknown actual reliability, btw) has noticably increased the level of bravado. I've found it almost impossible to describe the challenges for a novice to actually control the aircraft in IMC and turbulence, even if the pilot has (laudably) gained a theoretical understanding of the process.
Just as a bit of an experiment a few years ago, I decided to see how good I was on the clocks in my fairly nimble VLA bug smasher - similar to many of the LSAs around. With a RH seat instructor as safety pilot, and equipped with a pretty nice panel of fully-certified instruments (all of which work much better than those in many a spam can I've flown), my initial efforts on a bumpy day under the hood could only be described as crap. The VLA was no stable instrument platform and, taking the hint, I did quite a bit of practice to the point of recovering some honour. But it again brought home the enormous challenge faced by a recreational pilot, even before the quality of the instrumentation or systems is considered.
To add to those worries, there were some pretty dubious recent articles in "Sport Pilot" on the topic, one of which featured a guy in a Jab pushing on into IMC and claiming the Lord was with him. It left me shaking my head and, were I not a heathen atheist, suspecting the Lord would be better pleased if he got himself a PPL and an IR.