Not all beginners crash. It's always recommended to have an instructor, and those beginners that have a good instructor stand a much better chance of success to gain basics and muscle-memory to fly.

I agree if you have to learn on your own, then foam or RTF is a good choice, just to save time and money. EFlite and other companies offer nice alternatives, and replacement parts.

The above mentioned Sig Kadet MKII is actually a durable plane, and is repairable in most mishap occurances. Another benefit from building is learning structure and techniques that make repairs easier and better.

There's many levels to the RC hobby... learning to build a nice plane leans greatly to the real "craft" of the hobby.... which leads to better flying models, which leads to better pilots.

The RTF EFlite type planes do fly nice... but they don't compare to a well built Sig Kadet(any Kadet)... a well built balsa based plane flies much better in all aspects.

I hope you didn't give up on building just because a few mishaps.... but if you feel better flying foam then definitely keep flying...that's the biggest factor.. just fly!