Balut..am glad you raised this issue. Am not telling everything is hunky dory with CA aircrafts but having said that i wish to put in writing my observations regarding this!
I am one of the few who has experiences flying both CA and OMNI aircrafts. Take the following 2 scenarios:
CA aircraft (Alpha):
A/C grounded due to inop DG!
OMNI aircraft (C152)
Aircraft dispatched with following instruments INOP:
1. DG
2. Turn Coordinator
3. VOR inop (t
emperamental 
works fine on the ground but becomes inop in the air..those who know of this ...know what aircraft reg is am talking about
)
-and-
4. Xponder became inop while flying!
As far as i am concerned i dont see anything wrong in flying a VFR flight with an INOP DG....
Both the above flights for VFR sorties...
Personally i dont find anything wrong with dispatching an aircraft with an INOP DG for a VFR flight. I have flown IFR flights with an INOP DG, No big deal.
Again there were instances when we had to return to field twice flying omni aircrafts due to engine vibrations, once due to faulty radio.
So far so good with CA aircrafts! fingers crossed!
I find that dispatch criteria vastly varies from flight school to flight school.
Answering your question....both CA 172s are flying.