The airlines are trying to do what most militaries do: but on the cheap. The miltary gets around the relative inexperience of their pilots with continous and extensive post wings training. The airlines don't want to make that kind of expensive investment so they fall back on their captains to keep the show on the road. In the end the captains become default check and trainers and the poor cadets become underconfident.
No one wins but the bean counters. I feel most sorry for the cadets as I can't imagine anything worse then going flying when in your gut you know that you haven't got the required experience to do the job comfortably.