Licences licenses licences, nothing but licences!
We're maintaining aeroplanes here and last time I looked this still meant getting your hands dirty. Something called practical experience. What is needed is a mix of academic knowledge and practical experience and it is this last factor that is continually overlooked. Just because a modern aircraft is full of black boxes doesn't reduce the need for people to be positively trained in how to perform the manual task. And PROVE that they know how to do it! That's the real issue in the equivalence debate. My driving licence proves that I have been examined not only in driving theory and traffic regulations but also in the ability to safely control a moving vehicle on the road. I would expect that a licence to certify that aircraft maintainance has been performed correctly should be no less practical.
Academic knowledge can be demonstrated through BTEC/HND/Degree or whatever; an AME licence ought not to be a substitute for these academic qualifications, it should complement them by providing extra assurance of practical competence. The reason for the modern "academic" licences is that they are simpler for the Airworthiness(?) Authorities to administer, not because they are any more realistic or more suited to current conditions...
**********************************
Through difficulties to the cinema