But at least they have a "Degree", right?
Back in the day, not a lot of guys had them, I flew with many Capts. who were hired by Delta or North East, who were hired at age 18-21 in the 1950's 1960's, who had been flying only crop dusters. Single Engine Piston. No ME time at all.
In my Delta new hire class (1985) the highest time guy in the class only had 5,200 tt, a mix of 800 Mil and 4,400 Civ. The next two highest had about 4,500 and 3,500, they were 100% Civ. There were a couple Fighter guys who only had 1,200 tt.
BUT...we all started in the back seat of a 727, which is a very low risk seat. Now everyone starts in a flying possition, and with the RJ pipline, they have years of glass flying experience in the 121 environment. Degree or no, I think they can handle it...and if they can't, I'm sure that's been documented and will come out eventually. I recall there were a few guys hired recently who couldn't get through DC9 school, because they had never flow steam guages. I wonder what their Degree was in??