It's funny how everyone who berates the value of "Burning 1500 hours in the traffic pattern" didn't actually put in the time to do it. 1300 hours of piston time, of which about 8-900 was dual given, and I learn something on EVERY flight. If you think ANY instructor spent all of his time in the traffic pattern, think again. Try instrument cross countries to TEB, trying to keep a mooney pilot from killing you both, while not shock cooling his engine- to doing power off 180's and perfecting energy management- to perfecting your methods to teach a non-pilot the art of a soft field landing. I've gained so much from CFI'ing that I can look back almost every month in awe of how much I didn't know the previous month. Don't knock it till you've done it- I've done a couple of different types of "time building" jobs (Divers, right seat charters, NO PFT!), and I can honestly say that I've got the most from instructing. That's gotta be worth something...

As said previously- Does 1500 hours make a better pilot? Maybe. Does it make a more experienced one? You bet! Will a random group of 1500 hour atp's in general outperform a random group of 300 hour wonders in real world situations? I know who I'm putting my money on...