twotbags,
just interested. are you a low / medium time prop fo who did the self improver route ??
while much of what you say is valid I'd probably correct the following (my opinion only) based on what I've seen as the guy who hired pilots for a jet airline in a previous life.
1: jets are more demanding than t-props when you consider the whole package. a/c , pax, equippment, coms, nav routes airspace management etc. but there is no difficulty converting most T-prop pilots on to them. anyone might be able to be trained to fly them but it's hard to get the entire package right.
2: from what I've seen your arguement about the self-improvers (i'm one of those) compared to the selected and sponsored students is wrong. like for like the approved course guys tend to fly better than most in the sim. they do however fall behind in the management and the flight experience side but they are areas that they improve in quickly. go through a full year with any jet operator and you'll have a good grounding.
at its most basic you said that a self improver with a family is more motivated during a type rating. well you don't have to be married to be highly motivated and to be very blunt they have been screened and selected, usually have better aptitude and possibly smarter than the average (certainly than me) and thus can cope with the Ground school better. the sim even favours them as it's basic flying and that is where they excel. they are a clean sheet and very eager. there is nothing worse than getting a guy in the sim on a type rating course who starts telling you how they 'did it' in xxx airlines and that worked better etc.....
3: Mil pilots (I'm not one) are far better trained. reducing them to people who were trained to fly to drop ordinance and go back to base is a little simplistic. To get to do that they have to be very very good and very highly trained. Like the sponsored cadet they generally are far better in the sim, have a fast learning curve and are easier for management to deal with when they're new as they're used to a command structure. If they have one failing (and it's limited to a very small proportion of them) they may show more signs of CRM type issues on their first command based on the way they have been trained.
everybody holds the training / selection process employed by the majors as a professional system. ask yourself why they go for very high cost ab-initio guy who they can screen from the get-go. or why mil guy can get fast-tracked straight onto jets. it's generally not because t-prop drivers with 2000 hours are any better or worse, it just that they might be a higher risk.
and lastly and probably least favourable in the popularity stakes every pilot underestimates the cost of training in a airline. the blunt truth is that it is easier to squeeze what you can out of the guys you have, use a mix of DEC's and upgrades. If guys are willing to pay for a TR it may be an avenue (IMHO bonding is still paying for a TR). there will always be a supply of pilots because it is a vocational career and amongst the legion of applicants you will always find some good people.
where any pinch may be felt is with rapidly growing airlines who are looking for experienced pilot who can adapt. these attract a premium and rightly so if they are good enough. some times it's safer to us DECs than a raft of new upgrades to maintain the experience base - especailly on challenging routes / aircraft.
sorry to go on a bit. all my opinion only. etc etc