Pete,
I do on one level, agree with you. But look at it this way.....
If I were a young Doctor who wanted to go and specialise in a particular area, I'd probably spend somewhere in the order of $40-50,000 on university and courses, specialising in that field (they're just figures plucked from one's bum, but probably not far from the truth). My wife is a nurse, I don't remember anyone paying for her to upgrade her qualifications to move into a different area of nursing.
Why then, do we as airline pilots, expect someone else to pay all the costs for us to go and 'specialise' in a particular aircraft?
morno