You have hit the nail on the head,. the pilot community has only itself to blame for the current situation. If smart pilot lawyers had not been so shortsighted in renaging on bonds it may be different.
Not withstanding the above, we have always paid for type ratings with no bond, but the new low time entrant must realise that he/she is not really very productive until they have reached 500 hours on type/18 months into the job. Getting youngsters to accept that they are a bit of a liability to begin with can be hard so we put them in the office for the first 1-2 years (as well as fly) to convert them from being simple pilots to operators ( world of difference between the two).
Unfortunatly for the hours builder the best candidate is the approved course route and the worst is the flight instructor. I think the reason for this is that flight instructors have been used to hours building for themselves and the student, so to have to accomplish anything quickly and efficiently does not come naturally.
I think our scheme works really quite well and eventually we produce a good operator who can do all the things that a lot of pilots feel is beneath them. (like booking hotels, calling for a taxi and even filing a flight plan). Our 3 Captains all started in this manner and I have every respect for their complete ability to do ALL the job, not just the bits they want to do.