Bruce Wayne has mentored a number of pupils during his time as Batman, fostering and training his young wards to be formidable side-kicks who eventually grew up to become superheroes in their own right, though just because he has done it a few times doesn’t mean he’s any good, and Batman Beyond proves that Bruce is actually a terrible mentor.
Batman’s first protege was Dick Grayson who Bruce Wayne took in as his own when Dick’s parents were killed by a Gotham City mob boss. Under his leadership, Dick Grayson became the very first Robin, honing his skills enough to pass on the side-kick mantle and become the hero Nightwing. Since Dick, Batman has trained Tim Drake, Jason Todd, and Damien Wayne to Robins, all while fighting by their side out in the field. However, when Bruce Wayne can no longer accompany the person he is mentoring during their nightly patrols, he lets his true colors show and they are not pretty.
In Batman Beyond #3 by Adam Beechen and Ryan Benjamin, Terry McGinnis is battling a deadlier copycat of the iconic Batman villain Hush, a copycat who is later revealed to be a perfect clone of Dick Grayson created by Amanda Waller. During the fight, Bruce Wayne is on comms with Terry while manning the main computer in the Batcave, acting as informational backup to Terry’s Batman, though he isn’t much help in this instance. Since this version of Hush is actually a perfect clone of Dick Grayson, Terry is getting pretty badly beaten by him during this fight, making it impossible for him to communicate with Bruce. However, Bruce doesn’t care what Terry is going through as he is screaming in Terry’s ear the entire time he’s getting pounded by Hush to answer him and tell him what is going on or he will remotely cut the power to Terry’s suit. Not only is he requiring constant verbal updates on Terry’s situation at all times, Bruce is actually threatening to put him in even more danger just because he feels as though he’s lacking control of the situation.
Bruce Wayne had a number of people acting as his ‘guy in the chair’ when he was Batman, most notably Alfred and Oracle, and he never offered them a verbal play-by-play of his patrols, and if they demanded that of him especially while he was in the middle of a fight, he would have eliminated their participation in his crime-fighting escapades in a heartbeat. However, because Bruce isn’t out in the field with Terry, he requires constant communication so that he can feel as though he is, essentially demanding that Terry allow him to live vicariously through him as Bruce has become too old to put on the suit. This lack of trust proves that Bruce is a terrible mentor as he doesn’t allow his mentee to fly on his own, something that is highlighted in this issue but may have been present in Batman's mentoring style all along.
With all of his other wards, Batman stood right there with them during their patrols of Gotham City and thereby had complete control over what they did and what they couldn’t do. With Terry, however, Bruce was stuck in the Batcave and could only coach him remotely, and when Terry found himself in a position where he couldn’t respond the way Bruce wanted him too, Bruce threatened to cut him off completely, holding him back instead of bolstering him up all for the sake of his own pride. Because of Batman’s need for control and his lack of trust in his mentees, as explicitly shown in this issue of Batman Beyond, Bruce Wayne proves that he is actually a terrible mentor.