Genghis, your advice is classic good advice, and I couldn't agree more.
But from what I gathered in this period of research for my flight training, I guess it's all a matter of money-time convenience.
You see, taking a frozen-ATPL seems demanding but in the end you learn all you need to learn, fly different types of airplanes, and do it in 1 year's time. Going the step-by-step way is more expensive and more time consuming. Plus, flight school really don't care of students who do PPLs; they pay attention only to those who pay ATPL.
It's just like going to the supermarket: 3 melons at 2$ each or 4 melons at 4$? Who has got time nowadays to learn as an apprentice? People prefers to fail quickly instead of wasting years on something that in the end is not what they want. In the XXI century you might spend a lot of money for ATPL but it's far less money that PPL+IR+NIGHT+ME+CPL (and other things to do in between each of those) and it's done in one third of the time. And if you think about people in their 40s, how much time left they have to learn a new profession and dive into the search for a job afterwards? Not much.
This maybe not my personal view, but it's what I see from others.
Last edited by Dogfactory; 11th Jun 2012 at 11:45.