"...the cutout switches operate the other way to all the other switches on the aircraft. Boeing switches are up for off, while the stab cutout switches are down for off. In all that confusion, with the stick shaker going of and the trim running away, who is to say that a low-hours pilot would not get confused....?"Is that true that the stab cutout switches on the pedestal really operate the opposite of all other switches on the aircraft?
I don’t fly the 737, I’m on the 777 so I can’t say for sure. The stab cutout switches on the 777 are guarded switches, you have to open the plastic guards covering the switches and push them down to cutout the power to the stabilizer.
Boeing switches on the overhead panel are forward for on and back (or up) for off, mostly dealing with the lights. Most other switches are push in/out types. Other than that I’m not aware of any convention for switches and I’ve been flying Boeings for years. This certainly sounds like trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, if a switch needs to be in the other position then I move it to the other position, I’m certainly not going to try and memorize which direction a switch moves for one that I’ve never moved during an actual flight in my life. They’re labeled so you can look down and see which way they move. The average pilot is never going to touch those switches during his entire career so expecting anyone to have memorized which direction they move is silly.