Captain K
I may have once agreed with your view on mandatory circling aproach practice but when I read this FSF report (below) at the time I look at it a little differently now. Admittedly many simulators' visuals are still not good enough to conduct circling practice in limiting conditions but there are so many aspects to consider when planning one in absolute minumums (i.e not just circling in reasonable conditions with only the wind out of limits for the instrument runway) that the practice is worth it for the briefing alone---almost.
Worth a read to absorb some of the very easy and some not so easy traps to fall into.