I know almost nobody does this anymore, but I taught myself to fly, and repair
using a 2 meter glider.
I know gliders have very little following anymore. but they do give you a LOT of time to react and correct. and like it or not you do learn about energy management in a dead stick situation...
It still makes me laugh when I think of that horrible slow recovery from a stall at low attitude though.. hahahah sometimes you have time to run in a circle and panic before that slow drop of the nose and flight control comes back..
I used to just hand launch and land going straight away.. once i got better I would turn back 180, and land towards me.. so many fun times back in those low tech learning days.
I think as long as everyone is having fun, and nobody is being put at risk, the person will eventually pick it up or move on... the sim's sure make it faster to learn, even if they are not quite the same thing.