In the meantime I think we all agree the depth of training & understanding of systems has fallen too much. That needs to be addressed soonest. If all the crashes of serviceable a/c over the past few years have not alerted the 'powers that be' of this then they will be exhibiting a negligent oversight of their domain.
RAT 5, Am with you there.
As one who has recently retired from the airline profession and now doing some part time basic instruction I witness a considerable drop in training standards at this level, apart from the odd notable exception.
Years ago nearly all basic training a/c were aerobatic and the instructors were usually ex RAF vintage instructors who were well honed in the basic skills.
If you exceed 30 degrees of bank in a basic training a/c with the new generation of instructors you are entering a part of the envelope which they have hardly ever explored. At a CFIs conference last year one speaker was berating the fact that instructors who applied for a job had only ever done two fully developed spins in their whole flying careers so far.
But I also see a lack of discipline and no longer a strive for excellence. They seem to think that flying is just a set of procedures with out really having depth of understanding as to what it is about and why you operate in a particular manner. This leads to lack of original thought - something which is necessary when things are no longer standard.
In the olden days during down time (yes I am showing my age here!) you would see instructors discussing flying matters in the briefing room and/or with the books out having a spirited debate about stalling etc and how it should be taught. I rarely see such things these days.