I certainly think the training for PPL should be improved. We don't train people for engine failures by saying "if you run out of fuel, you will die". Why tell people essentially the same thing about IMC?
We should be training IMC as an emergency procedure for a VFR pilot, with a specific set of actions rather than just flying around randomly with the hood on following instructions. (Who's idea was a 360 degree turn under the hood anyway? Not a brilliant idea to train people to turn 360 degrees if they enter IMC...)
A specific emergency procedure might be something like:
1) Transition to instruments and climb (straight ahead or away from obstacles) if below LSALT - which requires some awareness of your location relative to terrain
2) Make a 180 degree turn.
3) Call to ATC for assistance
4) Follow ATC vectors etc
3 & 4 are obviously simulated by the instructor for training.
That way a PPL who enters IMC will have a plan, instead of panicking with the thought that they are about to die.
Now go read some of those write-ups in the crash comic and see if you think there might have been a better outcome had the above been enacted!