Steve - is he a former film shooter? This could be the answer.
I'm certainly no pro, but I've been shooting in RAW+JPEG quite a bit lately as a new workflow experiment. I import all the JPEGs first, delete the garbage, and then import the matching RAW pairs for the shots I like and need to edit. I find the difference between the JPEG right out of the camera and the RAW image to be substantial in many cases - especially at ISO 1600 or greater. I can't imagine being stuck with just the JPEGs, but then again the chasm between my skill and experience and a pro is pretty big too!