Mad_jock
If every time I had a CFI give me a bollocking for writing about some defective piece of kit in the school's tech log, I would not have done much flying.
Schools especially are very selective about what gets written down. The charitable view is that anything that isn't legally required for VFR should not be written down because it isn't necessary, and reduces the value of the aircraft to a prospective buyer when he sees a long list of breakages. But the same planes get used for IMC training also... I used to write down stuff like INOP DME, INOP VOR1, INOP VOR2, INOP ADF, INOP instrument lights, INOP pitot heat, INOP OAT gauge and then got a bollocking
IMHO a working compass is mandatory - even if many/most pilots rarely look at it.