Not to take away from what many others have said here, and just adding a possible reason for what some call Shiny Jet Syndrome.
Most low hour aspiring pilots have to face the fact that they will have to self-sponsor a TR. The debate as to the rights and wrongs of this is valid, but is viewed by most "wannabes" as irrelevant as it is the way things are at present.
If we look at the jobs available in the UK at the moment for low hour pilots we can see the following costs for TRs:
Jet2.com: £18000 over 3 years
Ryanair: £23400 up front
Easyjet: difficult to work out fully, but either integrated at CTC or their ATP scheme. Either way, a lot!
Eastern: £15000 - 17000
West Atlantic: circa £15000
Loganair: £15000 over 3 years
Looking at these figures I find it quite easy to see why someone would aspire to getting a jet TR early. If you are willing to pay for a TR then you may as well spend the little bit extra and get a widely used one (A320/B737) as opposed to a niche turbo-prop rating. If you did go to somewhere like West Atlantic and gain 3 years experience there's nothing to say you won't still have to pay for a TR to move onto jets (if that's your desire!).
I think in summary there are 2 arguments here. I for one think that we are worse off for losing the natural progression associated with working your way up to a jet job, and experience gained on turboprops is invaluable. However, I can fully understand the desire to get a jet job as early as possible.
I am sure that someone will now attempt to castigate me for advocating SSTR, but I am not attempting to do that. I think we don't have to agree with something to understand it, and I personally can easily understand why someone aspires to fly a jet as soon as possible.