skilled at watching an autopilot but precious little else .... when by the looks of things the priority should be on hand flying raw data instrument flying skills
As A37575 and I can reflect from a previous life, it is not too hard to bring these kids up to a competence level where they can drag the jet around, single pilot, hand flown raw data, and in lousy weather .. and land safely (and, for some, even with a modest touch of elegance) off an OEI ILS.
Doesn't make them aces or give them much depth of judgement. Does, however, give them the basics of recovery on a dark night if the Commander is dead or away with the fairies.
On average, about 1-2 simulator sessions worth of I/F and OEI practice during their initial endorsement programs - in the program I am referring to we had a reasonable control over getting a few extra hours in the box for the kids and we milked it for their benefit.
We have both had raw cadets straight off their < 200 hour CPL program able to fly a SP high workload OEI circuit in the 737 sim by the end of their endorsement training.
In the real world it's not hard but it does take management gumption to spend a few extra dollars during training programs, especially at the initial endorsement stage.