I really wouldn't want to have jumped straight into a RHS seat on a large jet. Looking back to the amount of fun I have had in puddel jumpers and Instructing.
Instructing isn't just about flying the machine although after 500hrs instructing the handeling side of things starts becoming like driving a car.
Its the people skills, learning how to handle refuelers, scared pax, airport officals, engineering and also the main thing is how to gauge someone elses work load and stress level.
I am sure that what ever they decide for airline licenses the old ones will be just as valid as they are now. You will get some companys who will swear by them. And others who say they want "real" pilots where the FO is a captain in training from the day they sit in the RHS. Exactly like what happens just now with intergrated/ modular methods of training and Instructor / Non Instructor pilots.
If people want the percieved glamour of poking buttons driving around the sky. So be it. Others like myself who get quite a buzz out of being a pilot hand flying the sod, can carry on the way things are done now. I am sure this will wear off in a few years but with any luck it won't.
There will always be a need for pilots to drive twotters and the like. And from the looks of pilots wandering around airports its nearly always the turboprop jocks who have a big smiles on their faces after landing not glum and knackard look of the jet guys.
MJ