Back in the bad ol days we taught ourselves by progressing from freeflight (rubber and then glow fuel) to powered glider. If you can get a model to fly well in free-flight you understand aerodynamics and flight trim (or you don't get it up at all, or back).

A lightly powered glider allows things to happen much slower.

When was the last time you read or were told to hand launch a model without the engine running to judge flight trim? There's a lot to be said for the old method of progression through stages instead of instant ARF gratification with a snarly, (relatively) powerful airplane. A good computer flight simulator should start with a pile of balsa that you must click and drag to assemble the model; and begin again at that stage after every crash.

I've been working with a bunch of Explorers in building LT-40s for an 'engineering' project. One of the guys in my team asked me to help him with a plane he bought last summer. He hasn't been able to start the engine yet! There's a lot to this hobby that happens before your thumbs ever mount the joysticks.