The difference between the "old days" cadet and today's is that the old cadets made up perhaps 10-20% of the BA/LH/AF intake. They were put through a rigorous training regime on aircraft that demanded their attention(BAC111, trident etc). Today(especially in the EU) cadets seem to make up at least 80% of the intake and fly an aircraft that is fairly benign(A320).
The inexperience of the cadet was watered down by their lower numbers relative to the airline. This is no longer the case as the cadets seem to be the only source of pilots for the EU Airlines.
What's worse today is that some of the recent cadets are now probably TRIs and, like making a "copy of a copy", the newer cadets might not be getting quite the same type of training the old cadets got.