Having a spent a fair deal of time as a flight instructor (initial entry and line) and mishap investigator, I would offer the following about qualifications and standards:
It is common pilot chatter bemoaning "lowest common denominator" standards. The fact is, all standards for qualification are effectively "lowest common denominator". That "common denominator" is established, and you are either found to be qualified to a given standard or you are not. One danger is when the standards (or enforcement) are set to produce a given number of "qualified persons" and not based upon the actual requirements of the task. Another danger is when subjective higher "standards" are bandied about by the pilot population (particularly the self anointed "better" pilots), yet are never formalized into the actual standards, training and enforcement.
In order for standards to be of any value, not only must they address the minimum performance to successfully accomplish the task, but they must be the basis of the training provided, the operating behavior of the crews and then enforced. But we, as a group, do not like to discuss how we are trained and evaluated to a "minimum" standard, even though there can be no other rational method for certifying individuals for a given crew position. You are either "qualified" or you are not, in the flying world. As one of my mentors would say, "It's just like pregnancy. You are either pregnant or you are not. There is no such state as almost pregnant, more pregnant or less pregnant."
I find it hard to imagine a justification for bestowing "qualified" status to any position that would be at the controls of any aircraft that did not include the ability to shoot a visual approach in VMC, but I'm long retired and the world changes. However, if that standard (ability to land hands on) is legitimate, then rather than decrying airports without G/S (which is confusing airport standards with pilot standards), get that standard established, trained to and enforced. And by "trained to", I include the opportunity and requirement to perform it on a regular basis.
I haven't a clue as to what caused this flight crew to get in the pickle they got into. That's the task of the mishap investigators of the NTSB. However, I do know the principles of standards, training to standards, operating to standards and enforcing standards, and a lot of the chatter in this thread is oblivious to these.