May I also point out after Kegs wise words that he was in fact a Qantas cadet (now a Qantas 767 Captain), so if anyone can give balance to the equation. It's him!
Of course the cadetship Keg went through is vastly different to what is being spun by the likes of oxford and co. I would have given my eye teeth to get into the Qantas cadetship of old.
Traditional cadetships I fully support and believe it adds a good mixture of cadet, GA and military to the Pilot mix. (having cadets as copilots however was quite painful on the Metro, but they were very enthusiastic and had a great ability to learn. These guys were also the cream of the crop who were selected, not the ones who had the money)
Surprisingly Qantas used to send their cadets to a regional airline (flying Saabs, Metros etc with operators such as Airnorth,Pearl, Macair, Skippers, Brindabella) to get a few years experience before letting them in the back seat of a longhaul jet for a few more.
Go figure!
Cheers