The Academy? Glorified shuttles used to give cadets practical astronautical experience.
But then, if Starfleet really wanted to go the "one man expendable fighter" route, I wouldn't be surprised. Sounds like something they would do in their lack of even finite wisdom.
You mean like this?:
---Large numbers of these ships were used by Starfleet in the Dominion War. During Operation Return, eight successive waves of fighters were sent to attack the Cardassian ships of a Dominion fleet, hoping to provoke them into breaking formation and creating an opening for the Federation fleet. (DS9: "Sacrifice of Angels")
~From Star Trek Wiki: Memory Alpha
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Might be what Academy training went towards.