The quadrant theory isn't going to work in this day and age because in many places the jet arrivals don't track straight to the airport. Often they come inbound from one direction only to track via an arc or another waypoint. For example while they are initially inbound from the south they will actually be inbound from the south tracking north east then inbound from the east. WA is a good case in point now with all the new routes in place. Bearing and distance is really the only safe way of negotiating all this at the end of the day, and that means the VFR guys have to learn bearing and distance then that's life. By using bearing distance you can update your position as to move around, and it is not as convoluted as quadrants.