For new pilots on type, time spent in the simulator on high altitude descent profiles is well worth the time used to teach energy control right from the start.
Why the sim? That is considered valuable time and not to be wasted on trivia. Why not in real life? However, there are some operators that insist on VNAV as default and at all times have a path active.
I used to see guys following a complicated STAR in LNAV & VNAV. OK. Then ATC vector you to a corner cut. The first thing they ask for is the FMC update and do nothing. After some seconds the VNAV says you are high. Shock horror; what a surprise. Then it is speed up and speed brake and a nervous twitch. The discussion then follows the lines of, "would it have been a good idea to go LVLCHG and accelerate while PM was fiddling with the FMC; then perhaps the 'high deviation' would have been less, even zero?"
I also read reports from Flt Ops warning guys who had became too high at the FAF or G.S intercept and later made a GA. The warning was about accepting ATC short cuts to finals. A tailwind at FL100 with a head wind on ground is a real gotcha. But why should Flt Ops need to warn crews of this danger? That is what the two pilots are there for. If you have SA you do not have to accept an ATC offer; it is just that. You are the manager of the energy state of the a/c; so manage it.