Digressing again...........
I see your point DirectAnywhere, but with the remainder of the fleet all using VNAV (and whatever Airbus use), and all future acft using VNAV, I think your point is mute. For mine, a tenure as a S/O on a 744, 767 or A330 is just as educational and helpful as that of a stint on the 747. There are vagaries to the use of VNAV that are just as important to learn as being able to mentally 'build' a descent profile. VNAV is hardly a perfect system and seeing it's pitfalls as an S/O is invaluable. And if VNAV doesn't work, get the perf manual out. That's what it is there for.